Gateway
by RubberChick'n
Summary: Evangelion - Event Horizon fusion. When Shinji was sucked into the Twelfth Angel, he went somewhere... else. Something has come back with him.
1. Rescue Mission

Disclaimer:  _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ is the property of Gainax.  _Event Horizon_ is the property of Paramount and Impact Pictures.  I'm making no profit from using either license as the basis of this story, and although I understand that they were never intended to be mixed, the idea seemed too good to pass up.

Gateway – An Evangelion/Event Horizon fusion by Rubberchicken

Chapter 1: Rescue Mission

               Shinji Ikari flattened himself against a skyscraper in a half-crouch, his muscles tense and ready to spring into action at any time.  He felt the reassuring weight of the pistol in Evangelion Unit-01's hand and reflexively tightened his fingers around the grip.  He knew he was a little edgy, but that was hardly a bad thing in this line of work.  If he had learned one thing while fighting the Angels, it was that there was always some element that you didn't expect.  Even though he'd last seen the target hovering above the city a good distance away, he wouldn't have been surprised to see the thing suddenly leap around the corner before him and attack.

               Despite his excitement, Shinji was feeling better than he had in a long time.  His sync tests that morning had seen to that.  For the first time ever, his scores had been better than Asuka's.  _Let's see you throw this one in my face,_ he thought with an uncharacteristic touch of smugness.

               Actually, she'd already tried.  Asuka had shocked everybody by willingly giving up the point position in their offensive today, insisting instead that the "Number-one synchro-ratio-holder" should take the position instead.  In an equally unexpected move, Shinji had accepted, getting a shot off at Asuka in the process.  He could still remember the look of outrage on her face.

               Shinji smiled.  Although he didn't dislike the Second Child all that much, he couldn't deny that her arrogant, confrontational behavior was wearing on him.  It was refreshing to be able to turn the tables once in a while.

               Today might turn out to be better than he'd anticipated.

               Shinji cautiously leaned forward and peered around the corner of the building.  There was the target, right where he'd last seen it.  The zebra-striped sphere floated serenely above the streets of the city, just barely clearing the tops of the structures.  It was simply _sitting_ there.  Shinji would have felt better if it had tried to attack them; the constant waiting was wearing on his nerves.

               He activated his commlink.  "Are you two in position?" he asked with a touch of impatience.

               Rei Ayanami's soft "Not yet," was quickly overshadowed by Asuka Langley Sohryu's angry outburst.  "Of course not!  How the hell can you expect us to be up there already?  I can only move so fast, you know!"  

               Shinji's hand clenched reflexively.  They were wasting time.  There was no telling what this Angel was capable of; they couldn't take the risk of sitting around and waiting until it attacked them.  They had to strike, and do it quickly.

               "I'm going," he announced.  Ignoring the protests of the others, he stepped out of cover and opened fire.  The bullets streaked through the sky towards the Angel.  Shinji braced himself, expecting an impact against the enemy's AT field.

               There was none.  Just as his shots reached the target, it vanished into thin air.

               "What the…?" he exclaimed, looking around himself wildly.  Where had it gone?

               "Shinji, it's underneath you!" Misato yelled frantically.

                The Third Child looked to his feet in shock.  A black circle was swiftly expanding beneath his feet, spreading to engulf the city blocks around him.  

_               This_ was the Angel?  Without hesitation Shinji pointed the gun straight down and fired.  There was no effect, not even an explosion.  He fired again, and again.  _Something_ had to be able to hurt this thing.  Ripples were spreading outward from the point of impact, like waves flowing across water.

               That's when Shinji realized he was sinking into the black space, which he now realized was actually a substance that felt very much like liquid.  He pulled the trigger once more, but the bullet only created more ripples.

               "What the hell?" he cried.  "What _is_ this?"

               On a hunch he immersed the pistol in the strange liquid and fired yet again.  There was no answering report, no jolt from the discharge.  It figured.  Of all the horrible times for a gun to jam…

               He tried to pull it clear of the black fluid.  It wouldn't budge.  Panicking slightly, he tried again.  There was an answering tug from the other side.  Something else was pulling on it.

               All right.  If the Angel wanted his gun, it could have it.  Shinji was already up to his waist in the thing; he wasn't going to waste time fighting over a gun that wouldn't work.  He released the gun and pulled back his hands.

               Just as they were about to break the surface, something grabbed his arms and yanked them downwards.  Shinji found himself dragged face-first into the black hole.

               As he vanished into the Angel's body, Shinji yelled for help from those around him.  "Misato!  Asuka!  Ayanami!  Somebody _help me!_"  Ignoring the distressed voices from his speakers, he abandoned his newfound pride and screamed unashamedly.  

               _Please… help me…_

               It was the last sane thought that he would have.

---

               "S2 testing will commence in T minus five minutes.  All personnel, clear the cages immediately.  Repeat, all personnel, clear the cages."

               Beneath the calm, peaceful surface of the Nevada desert, the primary installation of NERV's Second American Branch was a frenzy of activity.  Maintenance workers rushed to their positions.  Scientists made last-minute calculations.  Guards checked their weapons and prayed.  The local director stood at the observation deck, her hands folded behind her back, and watched.

               "T minus three minutes."

               The crimson coolant flooded out through the drainage valves at the cage's base.  As the level of liquid in the chamber fell, the silver-plated body of Evangelion Unit-04 was revealed.  It glared at the little men running around on the bridge, its gaze seeming to communicate displeasure.

               "T minus one minute."

               As the countdown drew ever lower, the level of activity decreased as well.  The cage became completely clear of maintenance staff, the sound of flowing coolant faded away, and the people on the bridge made their way to their positions one by one and stopped.  Silence fell over the installation like a shroud.  People seemed afraid even to breathe.

               "T minus five… four… three… two… one… zero.  Activating S2 core."

               A low-pitched hum resonated throughout the cage as the EVA's core was activated.  Unseen in the harsh lights of the facility, tiny arcs of violet energy danced across the Evangelion's chest.

               "Activity levels are climbing.  S2 unit will be fully active in three… two… one…"

               As the word "zero" left the chief technician's mouth, there was a dull _thump_, not unlike a thunderclap.  The Evangelion flared with white light; all those assembled covered their eyes to shield them from the unexpected glare.  

               It took a few seconds for their ears to stop ringing and for the spots to fade from their vision, but when their senses returned, the technicians saw that the light had faded.  Also gone was Evangelion Unit-04.  In its place was a wall of blackness, expanding outward from the cage's center with a sound like a rolling wave.  

               People opened their mouths to scream, but the rippling wall washed over them before they could make a sound.

---

               "Commence operation," Dr. Ritsuko Akagi ordered.  "Let's do this while there's a chance that Shinji's still alive."

               It was the morning after Shinji's disappearance, although it certainly didn't feel like morning to any of those who gathered at the edge of the Sea of Dirac.  They'd been awake throughout the night, working feverishly to find some way to extract the Third Child from the body of the Twelfth Angel.  Only an hour ago, Ritsuko had come up with an extremely risky plan.

               Misato Katsuragi had nearly leaped on the doctor in a rage after hearing its details.  Dropping N2 mines into the Sea while Shinji was trapped inside sounded positively foolhardy.  She had to be physically restrained when Ritsuko let slip that she didn't expect Shinji would survive, but that the operation would be considered a success if the Evangelion was recovered in working order.  Misato had loudly wondered if the news of the Second Branch's disappearance might have had something to do with this, although her insinuations had little visible effect on the doctor.

               In spite of Misato's vehement opposition to the attempt, no better proposal was given.  That was how Rei Ayanami had ended up here, preparing for combat for the second time this day.  Looking across the Sea, she could see EVA-02 standing at the opposite end.  Rei thought back to the smug gloating she'd heard from the Second Child earlier.  Ikari's life was in danger; why would she say such things about him now, when he couldn't hear her?  She felt a faint sense of irritation at Pilot Sohryu's arrogance, but knew that ultimately it did no harm and was not worth troubling herself to stop.

               "Alright.  Asuka, Rei, expand your AT fields as far as they'll go."  Misato's voice was tense and tightly controlled.  _She cares for Ikari,_ Rei realized.  _She fears what will happen if our attack does not succeed._

               "Understood." Rei responded.  A moment later, Asuka also gave her confirmation.  Her voice was unusually subdued.  _She is concerned for Ikari as well, despite what she says._

               "Preparing to begin N2 deployment," the VTOL commander informed them.  "N2 drop in five… four… three… two…  What the…?"

               Rei's eyes narrowed even as the commander's confused exclamation reached her ears.  She, too, had seen the activity within the Sea of Dirac.  On the other side, EVA-02 dropped into a crouch.  Evidently Asuka had seen it as well.  The assembled forces watched in shock at what transpired next.

               Waves were running across the surface of the Sea.  They began only as small ripples, but quickly rose in height until they came up nearly to the Evangelions' waists.  Fortunately, the waves fell back to the surface before reaching the Sea's edge, but that didn't stop the activity from increasing.  Within a few seconds, the Angel's body was a roiling, churning mass of inky blackness.

               "Dr. Akagi," Rei asked, taking a step back, "what is happening?"

               Ritsuko's voice showed disbelief.  "The Angel's AT field is… decomposing!"

               "Is it Shinji?" Misato asked hopefully.

               "Negative," Maya Ibuki answered.  "There's only the one field, and it's fading fast."

               "Then what the hell is _doing_ this?" Asuka demanded.  There was no response; nobody knew what was happening any more.

               "Look, up above!" somebody yelled.

               As Rei's gaze was drawn to the striped sphere, which had suddenly gone completely black, she became aware of a low rumbling, like the sound of an earthquake.  With an earsplitting _crack_, tiny fractures began to run through the sphere's surface.  The rumbling grew, and now there was another sound as well… some kind of indistinct _shrieking_.  Rei's spine tingled at the sound.  It wasn't natural.

               Crimson fluid – blood – began to trickle from the cracks.  At first it was just a slow drip, but as the cracks widened the dripping increased to a steady stream, and then to a flood.  The sphere lost its smooth shape, rippled uncertainly, and finally burst.  

               The raining blood disappeared into the black void in the ground: as it did so, the raging waves abated, leaving only a steady series of concentric ripples emanating from its center.  The strange shrieking, however, did not diminish; Rei had to fight the urge to cover her ears and yell to drown the noise out.

               Something erupted from the Sea's center at high speed, soaring several hundred feet upward into the air.  It was Evangelion Unit-01.  Its purple armor was stained red with blood.  The EVA's arms and legs hung limply below it as it flew, and the truncated umbilical cable flapped loosely behind its body like the tail on a kite.

               _Ikari_ _is not in control of it,_ Rei realized with an unpleasant shock.

               The rumbling rose in a final crescendo as the surface of the Sea itself fissured into jagged slabs and broke apart.

               "The Sea has collapsed!" Ritsuko shouted.  "EVA-01 isn't responding!  Catch him!"

               Rei was already running across the uneven surface, her feet kicking up loose fragments of pavement when they landed.  Tensing her muscles beneath her, she jumped as EVA-01 fell, making contact with it a hundred feet up and catching it as best she could.  A sharp pain rain through her shoulder, but she paid it no heed as she landed feet-first on the road in front of EVA-02.  Evangelion Unit-01 slipped from her fingers and slumped to the earth.

               "Ikari," Rei called, urgently.  "Ikari!"

               Recovering from her apparent shock, Asuka walked over as well.  "Hey idiot, wake up, you had us worried!  Jerk."  Shinji gave no response.  "Shinji?" she asked, her voice taking a note of uncertain fear.  

               Without hesitating further, Rei extracted the entry plug from the Evangelion's back and rushed to the command station.  Dr. Akagi would know what to do.  She always did.

               Rei hoped Shinji was all right.  Somehow, she knew that he wasn't.

---

               "Shinji?  Shinji, it's me.  It's Misato.  Wake up, Shinji.  Everybody's here, we're waiting for you to wake up.  Please, Shinji?"  Misato's voice broke; she clenched her teeth, trying to hold back tears.

               When they'd pulled Shinji from the entry plug, he'd proven completely unresponsive to any attempt at communication.  They'd found him much as he was now, in a deep, comatose slumber from which nothing would wake him.

               "Is there anything you haven't tried?" Misato asked with a hint of desperation.

               Ritsuko shook her head.  "Nothing that I would recommend.  There are some drugs I could use to shock him into consciousness, but they'd probably cause permanent brain damage."

               Misato sat down gently on the edge of Shinji's bed and took one of his hands in hers.  It was warm.  He certainly looked healthy.  "You're sure there's nothing wrong with him?" she asked for the twelfth time.

               Ritsuko bore her questioning with practiced patience.  "I'm sure, Misato.  We've checked all his vitals and given him every kind of scan imaginable.  There is nothing physically wrong with him, inside or outside.  Despite the blow he took after he was ejected from the Angel, he's in perfect condition."

               Misato looked down.  "So he's brain-dead."

               "Not exactly," Ritsuko corrected.  She walked over to stand in front of Misato, who looked up at her, surprised.  "We've tried using mild electrical stimulus to awaken the conscious parts of his brain.  Shinji's nerves react when stimulated, but they just don't wake up."

               "What does that mean?"

               "I'm not sure," Ritsuko said, scratching her head and staring at Shinji.  "It's almost as though he's… resisting being awakened."

               "But why would he do that?"

               An annoyed snort made Misato turn to look over the bed.  Asuka was glaring angrily at the Third Child.  "Stupid idiot's just running away.  The jerk can't face up to the challenge any more."

               "Asuka!" Misato snapped.  "That's enough!"

               A brief staring match ensued, with Misato's narrowed eyes meeting Asuka's surprised gaze; evidently, the redhead hadn't expected Misato's angry reaction.  It went on for several seconds.  At last, Asuka broke eye contact.  "Well, it's not like it makes any difference anyway," she growled.  "If he wants to sit out, he can damn well do it!  It's not like I need him to fight with me, or anything."  With that, she stalked from the room, muttering something under her breath.

               Rei watched the Second Child's departure with an unreadable expression.  When the sound of Asuka's footfalls had faded, she stood and smoothed the skirt of her uniform.  "I will go to get something to eat," she informed them.  "Will I be allowed to return here later?"

               "Of course," Misato answered, relieved that somebody would be watching Shinji.  "Thank you, Rei."

               "It is not necessary to thank me, Major Katsuragi," Rei replied.

               Misato considered the girl as she walked to the infirmary door.  She was a nice enough girl, if a little unsettling at times.  Ever since the battle with the Fifth Angel, some kind of bond had existed between Rei and Shinji.  In the time that she'd known the First Child, Misato had never known her to express herself in quite the same way as when she was around Shinji.  Was there something between them?

               Rei stopped at the door and took a last look back at her fellow pilot.  Her expression, as before, gave away little.  She seemed to be looking for something.  Whether she'd found it by the time she turned away and stepped into the hallway was unclear.

               Ritsuko sighed as the door closed.  "So in short, no, there's nothing else we can do… except wait for him to wake up, that is."

               "And on top of that, this also means we're down to two pilots again."  Misato shook her head.  "Things seemed like they were going so well yesterday morning…"

               "This is war, Misato," her friend reminded her.  "There are always casualties… and they're never the people who deserve to be."  Misato nodded in reluctant agreement.  "Anyway," the doctor continued, "the piloting issue will be resolved shortly.  We've identified the Fourth Child."

               "Who is it?"  Misato asked, dreading the answer.

               Ritsuko told her.

               The major laughed ruefully.  "I don't think he'll do it willingly… especially when he sees what's happened to Shinji."

               "He has no choice, Misato."  Ritsuko's tone made it clear that there was no question.

               "No," Misato agreed, "he doesn't, does he?  When are you going to-?"

               The simultaneous chiming of their cell phones cut her off in mid-sentence.  They answered in unison.  "Hello?"

               It was Fuyutsuki.  "We need you ready to leave immediately.  The Second Branch has returned."

---

               "I have to admit, with what happened to Shinji, I'd completely forgotten about the Second Branch," Misato confessed as the long-range VTOL craft neared its target.

               Ritsuko shrugged.  "I suppose that's understandable."

               Frowning, Misato looked about the cramped interior of the craft.  The rest of the small task force NERV had assembled sat in silence, none of them looking up at the others.  They had engaged in light conversation for much of the flight, but as their destination drew nearer, a pall of uneasiness had settled over them.  The four security personnel they had brought with them checked their automatic weapons for the final time.  Shigeru Aoba had kept up a more or less steady flow of witty repartee with Makoto Hyuga, in the cockpit, but he'd eventually quieted down and now stared fixedly at the floor in front of him.  Ritsuko had spent the entire flight immersed in technical reports on the Second Branch's disappearance.  For her part, Misato had spent the time sleeping.  She figured she'd need it.

               "You'll be traveling to Nevada immediately," Fuyutsuki had informed her.

               "When did it happen?" she'd asked.

               "About the same time that Shinji was recovered from the Angel.  We immediately tried to open contact with them, but there's been no response.  The American government is understandably reluctant to send anybody in there, but they'll allow us to go in ourselves."

               "That's a rare show of deference."

                "Right now they're running scared.  They've already decided to send us EVA-03 ahead of schedule – after what happened yesterday, they can't get rid of it quickly enough.  But the fact that they're scared now doesn't mean that greed won't get the better of them later.  Right now the facility is more or less unmonitored.  Any competent force could walk in there, as it stands… but there are matters we need to see to before that happens."

               "Which is where we come in."

               The Subcommander had nodded.  "Yes.  We need a small group to go to Nevada and investigate the facility.  We need any information we can get about what happened during that activation test.  Camera recordings, voice recordings, computer records… anything.  The probability of survivors seems low, but if you should find any, you'll be expected to rescue them.  Bring them back with you."

               "Of course."

               "One more thing."  Fuyutsuki had looked at each of them in turn.  "If Evangelion Unit-04 proves to be salvageable, your top priority is to recover it."  He'd turned away with a wave of his hand.  "That is all.  You're dismissed."

               "Major?  We're here."

               Aoba's voice brought Misato out of her reverie; she realized with some embarrassment that she was dozing off again.  There was a slight jolt as the VTOL touched the ground, followed by a deepening whirr as its engines slowed.

               "All right, people.  Let's go."  Misato shook her head to clear it, then stood and led the others out of the aircraft.

               It was still early morning, and the sun thankfully hadn't risen high enough to raise the temperature.  Their breath showed in tiny clouds as they walked quickly across the sandy desert basin to the primary enclosure.

               As they passed an electric fence bearing the warning PRIVATE PROPERTY – KEEP OUT, Hyuga picked up a rock and tossed it at the wires.  There was no sound, no flash of light or sparks; nothing but the sound of stone striking metal.    
               "I guess the power's off," he observed.

               That was true, Misato realized.  There were lights mounted at regular intervals outside of the building, but none of them were turned on.  The morning light barely provided enough illumination for them to see as they neared the main building.  The power _was_ off.

               "Things aren't going to be much fun for the people in there, that's for sure," one of the security men grunted.

               They stopped before the main entrance to the building.  The door stood wide open.  Misato was simultaneously thankful that they wouldn't need to find an alternate entrance and worried at the possibility of a security breach.  Anybody could have walked in by now.

               Beyond the door there was only darkness.

               "Hello?" Misato called.  "Can anybody hear me?"  Her voice echoed back at them from within the entryway.

               "I guess not," Ritsuko quipped.  When Misato fixed her with a scathing glare, the doctor just gave a thin-lipped smile in response.  "We'll need our flashlights," she said, unclipping the light from her belt and turning it on with a click.  Without waiting for Misato's reply, she strode into the darkness, leaving the fuming major standing at the door.

               "Alright," Misato sighed.  "Let's get this over with, people."

               Their footsteps reverberated loudly as they walked in.  The _tap-tap-tap_ of their feet was made all the more painfully obvious by the utter silence around them; but for the sounds they made, there was nothing else to indicate life or activity of any kind.

               "All hope abandon, ye who enter," Aoba muttered.

               He was trying to be funny, but Misato shivered nevertheless.  For some reason, the quote seemed appropriate.  Something had happened here, something that left nothing but echoes to answer those who came after.  And here they were, striding willingly into the belly of the beast to find out what it was.

               Her hand unconsciously fingering the pistol in her jacket, Misato quickened her pace to catch up with Ritsuko.  Together, they worked their way into the depths of the Second Branch.

---

Author's Notes

Heya.  To my knowledge this hasn't been attempted before, so I thought I'd try my hand at "breaking new ground," as it were.  Fans of _Event Horizon_ will probably already know quite a bit of what to expect, but I'll try to slip in a few surprises for you.  To those who aren't familiar with the movie, don't worry; the story should remain within the EVA universe while borrowing a few of _Event Horizon_'s concepts.  Be warned, though, that there will be very little goodness, light, WAFF, and romance in the chapters to come.  

No prereading assistance was used for this chapter, unless you count Shinji (the 6:00 assassin), who read the first three scenes and awarded the story a hearty "Fuckin' A!"  Take that however you will.

Until next time…


	2. Echoes

Disclaimer: Neither _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ nor _Event Horizon_ are my property.  That honor goes to Gainax, Paramount, and Impact Pictures.  I'm making no monetary profit off of this story.  So don't sue me.

  
Chapter 2: Echoes

            The harsh white light of the flashlight beams sliced through the darkness like glowing knives.  As they walked, the members of the recovery team played the lights across the walls, floor, and ceiling of the corridor, trying to take in every aspect of their obscure surroundings.  It was pitch black within the facility; even the emergency power must have failed.  

The pervading darkness had an almost smothering effect.  Misato felt the need to focus on the circles of light as she moved.  If she allowed her gaze to stray away from the light for any length of time, she found herself becoming nervous and short of breath.  After a few minutes she gave up trying; it was much easier simply to watch the light.  The thought was simultaneously comforting and disturbing.  The spots of light were like holes cut into the black shroud that covered them, possible windows through which she could escape.  Still, a flashlight seemed like a very flimsy weapon to use against the darkness.

Their footsteps continued to be the only sound; no sign of life reached their ears as they walked.  Misato remembered that Fuyutsuki hadn't been too confident about the chances of finding any survivors.  So far, at least, his prediction seemed to have been correct.  There was one problem: not only were there no survivors, but there were no bodies.  Why was that the case?  Where had everybody gone?  

"It's possible that the staff were destroyed by contact with the Sea of Dirac," Ritsuko answered.

Misato jumped at the unexpected sound and nearly shrieked aloud.  Ritsuko had spoken softly, but in the total silence of the corridor her voice may as well have been a thunderclap.  Angrily, she pointed the flashlight beam at the doctor's face.  "Don't _do_ that!" she hissed.

Ritsuko put up a hand to shield her face from the light, but Misato could tell she was smiling.  "What?  I was just answering your question."

"I…" Misato trailed off.  Had she spoken the question aloud?

"And could you point that thing somewhere else, please?  It's not exactly polite."

Misato realized the light was blinding her friend and hurriedly diverted it to the floor.  "Sorry," she muttered.

"It's all right," Ritsuko responded, chuckling.  "Anyway, as I was saying, it's possible that the Sea of Dirac destroyed any organic material that was trapped inside of it.  That would explain the loss of the crew – and the lack of bodies."

Misato's brow wrinkled with confusion.  "But Shinji was pulled into a Sea of Dirac as well, and he's…" she nearly said "okay," but caught herself at the last minute.  "…he's still alive."

"I know, Misato," her friend said gently.  "I know.  This isn't an area we have a lot of experience with; in fact, ninety percent of what we know about this has been learned over the past day or so.  I'm just stating a possibility."

Hyuga spoke up from the back of the group.  "Maybe they're still alive, and they're all trapped further inside."

"That's a possibility," Ritsuko agreed.

Aoba sniffed the air.  "It's only been a day, but even this close to the exit the air's getting stale.  If there are people still alive down there, it's definitely going to get worse the farther we go; with the power out, the ventilation fans aren't working.  They might not have much time left."

Misato nodded, although in the dark they probably couldn't tell.  "On top of that, there's no light, which slows us down.  Furthermore, if any containment doors were shut during the emergency, we'll need to pry them open – if that's even possible for all of them."  She felt a familiar strength returning; she was slipping back into command mode, and with its arrival the fear drained away.  "We can solve all of this if we can just get the power back online.  There should be a maintenance elevator just ahead.  Hyuga, Aoba, Yashima, take the access ladder down the elevator shaft to the sub-basement and see if you can get the generator back online.  The rest of us will make for the bridge.  You know the layout of the installation, right?"

"Right," Hyuga affirmed.

"Good.  You have your portable radios, so we'll be in contact throughout.  If anything happens, one way or the other, you tell us about it.  Okay?"

"Understood."

The maintenance elevator was in sight on the left; without hesitation Yashima stepped forward and pulled open the access hatch next to it.  There was a slight rush of air from the opening, but it quickly subsided.  Yashima leaned forward and aimed his flashlight down the shaft.  "It's a long way down," he reported.

"Afraid of heights?" Misato asked.

Yashima shook his head.  "I'll be fine."  He looked over at Aoba and Hyuga.  "Either of you want to go first?"  When neither volunteered, he shrugged and stepped onto the ladder.  "See you later, Major, Doctor."  With that, he began to descend, disappearing from view.  Aoba and Hyuga followed, leaving Misato and Ritsuko with the remaining three men.

With a heavy sigh, Misato faced the darkness once again.  "We've got a job to do.  Let's keep moving."

They resumed their slow progress into the shadows, working ever closer to the answers they believed they sought.

---

            "You know," Makoto Hyuga joked as they climbed down the ladder, "I kinda feel like I'm in one of those old tomb-raiding videogames from the '90s.  Here we are, climbing down into the depths of some empty, unexplored ruin, trying to find its secrets and bring them back to the surface."

            "Sure," Yashima's mirthful voice came back.  "We've even got a babe with a gun.  The similarities are obvious!"

            Hyuga laughed.  "Want me to call the Major and let her know what you think?"

            "Aw, come on!  I've seen you looking at her!"

            There was a moment of embarrassed silence.  Shigeru Aoba seized the opportunity.  "So, if this is a video game, then do you think there'll be a horde of sword-wielding mummies waiting for us at the bottom?"

            The silence became decidedly uncomfortable.  Aoba felt a little bad about putting a stop to the levity, but he wasn't in the mood.  He'd sensed it even as they'd first walked into the building – a sense of _wrongness_ in the air.  Every reasonable impulse in his body screamed for him to climb back up the ladder and get out.  Duty and curiosity were the only things that kept him on his course, and even they seemed to have reservations about continuing.  Whatever was going on here, it wasn't something to joke about.

            Still, Hyuga was probably on edge too.  It couldn't have helped any for Aoba to snap at his friend.  He was about to apologize when Hyuga spoke again.

            "Edgy, Shigeru?"  There was a teasing note to his voice.  Aoba sighed with relief.  Hyuga wasn't annoyed.

            "Hey, you know me," Aoba retorted, deciding to indulge him, "I always sucked at those games when I was a kid.  If a pack of mummies jumps us when we reach the bottom, it's gonna be up to _you_ to save our asses!"

            Hyuga's laughter rang out once more, echoing about the chamber.  From the sound, it seemed that they'd emerged from the shaft and into a larger space.

            "We must be near the bottom, Yashima," Aoba called down to the other member of the group.  "Let me know when you reach it so that I don't…"

            There was a sudden, surprised cry from below, which was cut off by the sound of something striking the floor.

            "Yashima?"  Aoba yelled, ceasing his descent.  Realizing that Hyuga was about to run into him, he hissed, "Makoto, stop!  Yashima?  You okay, man?  Yashima!"

            There was a groan, followed by some muffled cursing.  Finally, Aoba heard Yashima's voice.  "I'm fine, I'm fine…" he assured them.

            "What happened?"

            "I hit a wet spot on the ladder.  I can hear water dripping; there must be a leak somewhere.  Anyway, I lost my grip and fell.  I'm lucky it was only about five feet up.  Just be careful on the way down."

            "Can you see anything down there?" Hyuga called.

            "Don't know.  I dropped my flashlight when I hit.  It must be around here somewhere…  Got it!"  There was a brief clicking sound, followed by more cursing.  "Shit!  It's broken.  Sorry, but I'll just have to wait for you."

            "Alright," Aoba acknowledged, continuing his descent.  "Just get away from the ladder.  I don't want to fall on you, or anything."

            He encountered the wet rung a few seconds later and carefully made his way past it.  Unconsciously wiping the moisture from his hands, he stepped from the ladder and shone the light at Yashima.  The security agent grinned at him.

            "Just twisted my ankle a little bit," he said.  "I'll be fine."

            Meanwhile, Hyuga had reached the floor and was looking about the room with interest.  "Well, I guess this is the place…" he announced.

            The cavernous chamber housed three magnetic turbines, which generated electricity for the entire complex.  Aoba looked them over.  Each was the size of a small house.  In order to be sure there hadn't been a mechanical failure, they'd need to inspect each one more closely.

            He unclipped the walkie-talkie from his belt, switched it on, and held it to his mouth.  "Major, do you read?"

            Misato's voice crackled through the radio.  "I read you, Aoba.  Have you reached the generators yet?"

            "Affirmative.  We've just arrived.  From here they seem pretty much intact; it doesn't look like there's been an explosion of any kind."

            "Will you be able to turn them on?"

            Hyuga cut in on his own radio.  "We still need to check the backup batteries for the electromagnets.  Also, there'll have to be a closer inspection of each turbine.  We don't know yet if the thing's going to fly apart on us the moment we fire it up."

            "Understood."

            "How are things on your end?" Aoba asked.

            There was a pause, and then they heard Dr. Akagi's voice.  Ritsuko sounded out of breath.  "One of the emergency hatches has sealed.  We've been working at it with a prybar for the past couple of minutes.  Once we're through, it shouldn't be too much farther to the bridge.  Of course, if you could give us a little power…"  She let the sentence hang.

            Hyuga laughed.  "We understand, Doctor.  We'll let you know whatever we find and get these things up as soon as possible.  Over and out."

            The conversation ceased and silence settled over them once again, except for the echoing drip of a leaky pipe somewhere nearby.  The quiet persisted until Hyuga finally suggested, "Why don't we get started?  I'll check the generator on the left."

            Aoba nodded.  "Okay.  In that case, I'll check the one on the right.  Yashima, you go with Hyuga, since you don't have a light anymore.  We'll meet by the one in the middle after we've checked the sides."  

            Hyuga and Yashima walked off, leaving him alone at the ladder's base.  He stared into the dark for a minute, then shook his head.  "Sooner we're done, the sooner we leave," he reminded himself, then started off to his right, around the perimeter of the room.

            Aoba scanned the massive turbine.  The machine was gleaming like new, and looked to be well maintained.  There was no sign of cracks or flaws in the metal, and no sign of scorching or an electrical short; from this side, at least, it looked to be in perfect condition.  Why had it stopped running?

            Liquid dripped from above, spattering on the outer casing of the turbine and leaving a glistening trail down the black metal.  He looked up and saw a catwalk above.  The leaky pipe must have been up near the ceiling.  Aoba hoped that that wasn't the problem; he didn't particularly want to climb up and make repairs.

            The pooling liquid splashed beneath his feet as he made his slow examination.  Making a mental note to open the drains and clear it out, he took the flashlight beam off the generator and checked to see how much further he had to go.

            The NERV officer froze instantly when he saw the girl.

            She couldn't have been more than eight years old.  She was dressed in a pair of shorts and an oversized T-shirt, both of which were splattered with… blood?  She didn't look like she was hurt, though.  Her short brown hair was raggedly uneven and framed a face bearing the most terrified expression Aoba had ever seen.  There was blood on her face as well.  Maybe she _was_ injured – but she didn't seem to be in pain.  Just afraid.  _Very_ afraid.  She began to tremble visibly as Aoba took a step forward, but was unable to move or make a sound, transfixed in position by her fear.

            Christ, what was a _kid_ doing in this place?

            Aoba wasn't much good with children, but he put on what he hoped was a friendly face.  "It's all right," he said soothingly in English, "I'm not going to hurt you."

            The girl gave no response; if it were possible, she shivered even more violently.

            "I'm with NERV, in Japan," he continued.  "We're here to help.  We're here to get you away from this place."  She still stared at him as though he was some kind of monster.  "Are you hurt?" Aoba asked.  With all the blood, it was a distinct possibility.

            She took a step back, her wide blue eyes still fixed on him.  Aoba sighed.  This was getting him nowhere.

            He put his hands up and slowly crouched down until he and the girl were the same height.  "I told you I wasn't going to hurt you," he reminded her.  "Like I said, I'm with NERV."  Aoba shone the flashlight on his uniform, letting the girl see the red logo.  "I just want to get you away from here."  He smiled as he moved the beam back to her.  "My name's Shigeru.  What's yours?"

            "Do you see?" the girl asked, unexpectedly.

            This took Aoba by surprise.  "What?"

            "Do you see?" she repeated.  Her voice quavered as she spoke, as though she was on the verge of tears.  The question had a pleading quality to it that was unnerving.  _Am I that frightening?_ Aoba wondered.  What had scared her so much?

            "What am I supposed to see?" he pressed.

            Without another word the girl stepped to the side and pointed to the corner of the room.  Aoba followed her line of sight with the flashlight beam.  The light settled on a low desk of some sort.

            "A desk?  Is that what I'm supposed to see?"

            There was no answer.  Aoba moved the beam back to the girl.

            She was gone.

            He jumped to his feet and looked wildly about.  "What the hell?"

            The girl was nowhere to be seen.  Had she walked away while he was distracted and gone behind the generator?  No, he hadn't been distracted for that long.  Had she run, then?  No, he would have heard her footsteps.  Had she climbed onto the turbine?  Aoba looked the generator over, then dismissed that thought as well.  It was far too big, and there were no good handholds within her reach.  So where _had_ she gone?

            Had he imagined it?  Aoba didn't think so.  He'd heard her clearly.  But how could she simply _vanish_?

            Maybe this place was getting to him.  He didn't like that possibility.  He fumbled for the radio and switched it on.  "This is Aoba.  Major, Hyuga, I thought I saw a little girl down here.  Keep an eye out."

            Dr. Akagi answered in an annoyed voice.  "A girl?  That can't be.  Non-employees aren't allowed inside the facility."

            "Maybe she sneaked in afterward?"  Hyuga suggested.

            Aoba didn't agree; the girl hadn't had a light.  How could she have made it all the way down here?

            "Are you sure it's what you thought, Aoba?" Misato asked.

            He considered.  He knew what he'd seen.  They didn't.  Chances were they'd think he was losing his mind – a scenario that didn't seem quite so far-fetched down here in the darkness.  "It was only for a second," he lied, "and she was a ways off.  I might just have imagined it.  Maybe this place is getting to me."

            Aoba heard Misato's sigh over the radio.  "All right.  Keep working on the power, in that case."

            "Yes, sir."  Aoba continued his circuit of the generator.  Almost as an afterthought, he lifted the radio to his mouth and asked, "How's the progess on…"

            He stopped abruptly.  Misato noticed and demanded, "Aoba?  Aoba, is something wrong?  Aoba, answer me!"  Aoba barely noticed.  His attention was occupied by something else.

            The desk, at least, hadn't vanished when the girl had, which was a small comfort to him.  What caught his notice, though, was something protruding from the darkness underneath it.

            It was a man's arm.

            "I think I've found a body," he announced, quickening his stride to approach the desk.  "Hyuga, I'm in the back-right corner.  Get over here in case I need help, okay?"

            "Roger."

            The girl's disappearance momentarily forgotten, Aoba reached the desk and crouched before it.  The paneling was too low for him to see the rest of the body.  Setting the flashlight and walkie-talkie on the desktop, he grabbed the arm just below the wrist in one hand, reached under the desk to hook his other hand around the body's shoulder, and pulled.  Surprised, he stood to regain his balance.  It had weighed less than he'd predicted.

            Aoba stared at what he held for a few seconds without comprehension; when he realized what it was, he thrust it away from him violently, as if it were a poisonous snake.

            It was a man's arm.  That was all.

            The arm struck the floor with a splash.  With a sickening lurch, Aoba realized what the liquid he'd been walking through was.  He took a step back from the desk, but his feet slipped from beneath him and he fell.

            Dazed, still unable to fully comprehend what was happening, he raised his hands into the light.  They were coated with a thick film of crimson.  He checked his pants.  There were dark smears on them; he remembered drying his hands after getting off the ladder, and felt sick.

            There were pounding, splashing footsteps as Hyuga and Yashima ran to the desk.  They both stared at the scene for a moment; Yashima closed his eyes and turned away.  Hyuga wasn't so lucky; he knelt and began retching violently.

            Aoba wanted to do so as well, but a part of him had awakened, cold and rational, as the rest of his brain shut down with the shock.  That part was telling him what to do now.  With remarkable calm he climbed to his feet, wiped his bloody hands for the second time, and walked to the desk.  He picked up his light and walkie-talkie and called Misato.

            "Major, we've found…"  He gulped uncomfortably, then continued.  "We've found… well, it's not exactly a body."

            "What is it, Aoba?" Misato asked, her voice tense.

            "Ah… we've… we've found what _used_ to be a person," he managed.  Kneeling in the blood, he peered under the desk.  There were no more identifiable body parts; just a lot of blood and a few shapeless lumps.  "In one of the corners," he went on, "we've got a forearm, a few scraps of flesh, and some blood.  Actually, check that," he said, surveying the surrounding floor, "we've got a _lot_ of blood.  I think that this is from more than one person… possibly several."

            "Is there any sign of a weapon?  Any trace of the killer?"

            Aoba checked.  "I don't see any weapons, and…" Something occurred to him; he checked under the desk again.  There was nothing but the blood and meat.  "Actually, there's no inorganic material here at all.  No uniform, no scraps of cloth, no weapons, no ID, no spare set of keys, no tools… nothing.  Just the blood."

            "Do you think you can determine cause-of-death?" Dr. Akagi asked, cold and businesslike.  

              His laughter at the question's absurdity was harsh and abrupt, an alien sound that didn't feel right at all.  "Kinda hard, unless you know how to reconstruct a corpse from a pool of blood," he replied.  How was he staying this calm?  By all rights he should be screaming or crying, or even doubled up in the corner like Hyuga.

            He knelt and looked more closely at the severed limb.  The edge was uneven; an inch or so of white bone protruded from the ragged stump.  _No bone fragments, either,_ he thought distantly.  Relaying this information, Aoba added, "It doesn't look like the limb was cut off.  Torn, more likely."

            "Could it have been an accident with the generator?" Misato suggested.

            "You mean like if somebody'd been caught in the works?"  The idea was plausible – certainly it would explain the lack of recognizable body parts.

            "No good," Hyuga interrupted weakly as he climbed back to his feet.  "There's blood all over the place, not just in one localized spot.  We must have been walking through it on the other side of the room too – enough for..." He took a deep breath to steady himself before continuing, "…for multiple bodies.  I can see one person getting caught, but several?"

            "Not likely," Misato agreed.

            Yashima took Hyuga's flashlight and shined it on the generator next to them.  "Besides," he contributed, "the outer shell of the turbine extends upward about eight feet from the floor.  They'd have to _climb_ up to make contact with moving parts… which eliminates the possibility of an accident."

            There was silence for a moment, punctuated only by the _drip-drip-drip_ of blood from above.  Aoba listened to the maddening sound, trying to piece the situation together in his head.  There was something _missing_ here: one vital piece that would make everything fit together flawlessly.  What was it?  _Where_ was it?

            Something clicked in his mind, a horrible suggestion that, he thought, just might be true.  "What if something… _ate_ them?" he suggested.

            "Pardon?" Ritsuko's voice conveyed skeptical disbelief, and not, Aoba knew, without reason.

            "I know it sounds crazy," he went on hurriedly, "but… I mean, there's no corpses, so where did they _go_?"

            "What could subdue and eat several grown men?" Ritsuko countered easily.  "There are no animals in this area big or fierce enough to do the job."

            "How about an Angel?" Aoba persisted, unwilling to be deterred so easily.

            There was a brief silence on the other end of the conversation.  Aoba held his breath.  Did this mean he was getting close?  How much did his superiors know?

            But when Ritsuko answered, she sounded cool and composed.  "That's not a possibility, Aoba.  The sensory equipment here would have picked up an Angel's presence, just like ours.  If an Angel had attacked, we would have known about it in Japan in seconds.  Now, I suggest that you confine your speculations to the realm of possibility; we'll have enough trouble piecing this together without idle fancies compounding the issue."

            Aoba felt his anger rise in response to the doctor's patronizing tone; his patience was nearing an end.  "Well, _something_ had to have killed these people," he snapped.  "I don't have any other suggestions, and that's the one that makes the most sense right now.  Unless you have a more reasonable explanation, I think we should at least _consider_ it!"

            "Lieutenant, calm down!" Misato ordered.

            "_Calm down?_" he laughed, incredulous.  "A lot of people _died_ down here, Major, and I think it's still possible that we could be joining them.  When we're out of here, _then_ I'll calm down.  _Then_ you can court-martial me for insubordination, or whatever.  But until then, I'm gonna be a little more worried about not knowing just _what the fuck is going on!_" 

            After shouting his response into the radio, he switched it off without waiting for a reply and angrily slammed it down on the desktop.  Without looking at the others, he took his flashlight and stalked off towards the ladder.

            "Uh… Shigeru?" Hyuga called after him uncertainly.

            "Check the batteries," Aoba answered without looking back.  "I'm going to climb to the upper level and have a look."

            "What about the monster, Aoba?" Yashima asked.  Aoba couldn't tell if the security guard was being serious or not.

            _Yeah, what about the monster,_ he thought dismally.  _I probably just earned myself a trip to the brig because of it, after all.  _Logically, Aoba would be safer sticking with the other two.  But he wasn't in the mood right now.  _Besides, how will we be better able to defend ourselves than the people down here?_

            "Don't worry about it," he said, dismissing Yashima's concern with false confidence.  

            He gripped the blood-slick ladder in his hands unflinchingly and began to climb, leaving them behind.

---

            "I'm gonna kill him," Misato muttered as Aoba cut the transmission.  

            "Oh, come now," Ritsuko chided.  "Don't be like that.  I'm supposed to be the ruthless bitch, remember?  Killing him is _my_ job."  In the suffocating gloom the doctor's attempt at humor seemed hollow and forced.

            "Then why don't you _do_ it?"  Misato was only half-joking.

            Ritsuko fell silent for a moment as they watched the men struggling with the sealed door.  When she spoke again, her voice was more subdued; her speech no longer sounded like an effort of will.  "You can understand, can't you?  His concerns were perfectly valid, and so long as he continues to do his job we can chalk his insubordination up to the stress of the moment."

            Misato regarded her friend.  "You think he's right."  It was not a question.

            Ritsuko didn't meet her gaze.  "What I think," she answered in a voice too soft for the others to hear, "is that I don't have the slightest clue what's happened here.  I came up with some ideas on the way over, but what those three found just ruled them all out.  We're in the dark – figuratively and literally."  She allowed a hint of a smile before continuing.  "Aoba's idea may be the right one, if for no better reason than that I can't think of a different explanation.  Going solely by what they've found, it could very well be the case that a monster of some kind devoured the people down there.  But that leaves us with even mores questions.  What kind of creature could do this?  Where did it come from?  Is it related to the Angels?  Is it an Angel itself?  And most of all…" she trailed off.

            Misato didn't need to ask to know what the final question was.  _Where is it now?_  Strangely, the prospect of coming face-to-face with a monster in these corridors didn't frighten her as much as one might have expected.  At least then she would know what she was dealing with.  Ritsuko had a point – the most unsettling thing about this situation was all the unknown factors.  She would have given anything to have a few of them answered.

            There was a groan of protest as the mechanism inside the door gave way.  At this signal, all five of the NERV employees grabbed hold of the prybar and pulled as one.  The portal still resisted, but after another minute's exertions they had forced open a space wide enough for them to pass through single-file.  

Misato squeezed through the opening and stepped into the bridge.

The first thing she noticed was the smell, a thickly pungent metallic scent that clung to her nasal passages and left her feeling slightly dizzy.  It permeated the dark chamber like a cloud of mist, making the air feel so heavy and dense that walking became an effort.  It brought back memories: memories of the fights she'd been in, of people she'd known, of the Second Impact.  Misato knew the smell of blood only too well.

"I… think we've found the crew," she told Ritsuko as the doctor followed her in.  

The plating of the floor was slippery beneath her feet as she walked further into the room.  The metal shone wetly when she passed the flashlight beam across it.  After Aoba's report, she didn't need to be told what it was.  Nausea threatened to overcome her as she realized that there wasn't a dry section of flooring to be seen.

"Place smells like a slaughterhouse," one of the men commented.

"Probably because it is one."  Misato spotted a few wet lumps lying in the blood.  "Whatever happened here, it didn't leave very much for us to clean up."

"How considerate," Ritsuko added dryly.  She crouched down before the fleshy lumps and reached out to touch them.

"Ritsuko, are you sure you want to…" Misato began, but then sighed as her friend ignored her, prodding them with her fingers and finally picking one of them up in her hand.  "I can't believe you sometimes…" she muttered.

"It's flesh," Ritsuko informed them.  "Muscle tissue.  Human, judging by the size of it – probably from somebody's arm or leg.  Ragged edges, just like with Aoba's find in the basement.  These were torn loose, not cut.  It might have been from a concussive blast."

"Like a grenade," Misato suggested.  There were problems with that theory, of course, and they both knew it; nevertheless, Misato found the idea that hostile forces might have infiltrated the facility to be far more comforting than the thought of a monster rampaging through the bridge.  People were easier to come to grips with.

"When the power comes back on, we'll have a better idea of what's…"

The conversation ceased abruptly as a faint sound reached their ears: a soft rustling from one of the far corners of the room.  The sound put Misato in mind of something being dragged across a wet surface – or dragging itself.  All sound from the group stopped as they strained to listen, not daring even to breathe.  The rustling paused briefly, then picked up again a few seconds later.  Whatever the sound's source was, it wasn't moving towards them.  Maybe it hadn't seen them yet.  On the other hand, maybe it was observing them itself.

"Weapons ready," Misato warned the men in as low a voice as possible.  Despite her effort to maintain stealth, the words seemed almost deafening.  She cursed her luck and her bad judgment.  _Why not bang a drum and announce your presence, _she scolded herself.  

The rustling abruptly stopped.

Memories of Misato's military training whispered in her mind as she realized that the unseen creature now knew that they were there.  _You're trapped, Misato.  You can't get everybody through that door quickly enough to escape, and the other way out has that thing in front of it.  Only one option left: act before you completely lose the element of surprise._

Her heart pounding in her chest, she gingerly moved the flashlight's beam away from Ritsuko and to the far wall.  The beam revealed nothing.  Misato nearly panicked and cast the beam randomly about the room, fearing that their adversary had already circled around them.  At the last second she caught herself and lowered the circle of light a few feet.

There it was: a fur-covered animal of some kind, crouched unconcernedly in the pooling blood that seemed to cover every inch of the room.  It raised its head as the light passed over it, blinking against the unexpected glare.  The thing's mouth was curled open in an apparent grimace, giving the impression of a beast that had been interrupted at its meal.  Come to think of it, that comparison may have been more apt than first consideration would suggest.  

It cocked its head uncertainly, regarding this strange intruder.  For a moment Misato thought it might simply retreat, but then its mouth gaped open, baring its fangs in anger.  Letting out an enraged squeal, it dropped back to all fours and charged.

Before any of the men could react, Misato's gun flashed into her hand from the jacket.  In the same fluid motion she squeezed the trigger, sending a bullet with unerring accuracy into the oncoming beast.  Their attacker collapsed to the ground in an explosion of hair and blood.  As the ringing echo of the gunshot died away, the silence settled over the room once more.  Nobody dared to move.  Strangely, Misato found that, this time, the quietness was comforting.

None of them needed to be told to remain motionless after this; Misato struggled to bring her out-of-control breathing back to normal for a full minute as they stood there, listening.  No more strange noises or squeals of anger were heard; the creature, whatever it was, had no companions running to its aid.

Ritsuko moved first, walking over to the spot where the thing had skidded to a halt.  "Not exactly what I'd expected," she remarked as she examined the corpse.

"What?" Misato asked, relieved that her voice didn't reflect the tension she still felt.  As she walked over to join Ritsuko, she moved to put the gun back in its holster.  No sooner had she done so than she decided to take it out again.  The weight of the metal gave her a sensation of security, however flimsy.

The creature didn't look nearly as big up close.  Its body was about the size of a cat's, with four legs ending in extended paws with tiny claws.  The gray fur that covered the corpse was filthy and matted with blood – although with all the blood in the area, that was hardly a surprise.  Its head was gone, blown into fragments by Misato's bullet.  She turned her attention instead to its other end, and noted a long worm-like tail.

"It looks like a rat," she observed.

"And an unusually large one," Ritsuko agreed.  "It's not unheard-of for them to reach these sizes, although I wouldn't expect to find them this large in the desert."  She looked about for a second, then pointed to a white shard of bone lying a few feet away: one of the rat's teeth.  "Sharp teeth, characteristic of carnivores and meat-eating animals," she continued, her voice coming out more strongly as she slipped into lecture mode, "so it's not inconceivable…"

"Wait a minute," Misato interrupted.  "You're not going to try and convince me that _one_ rat, however big, did all this, are you?"

"Rats aren't solitary creatures," Ritsuko countered.  "Where one is found, there will be at least a small group of others – they gather wherever the food is.  And although the groups can be small, they can also be much, much bigger, numbering in the hundreds, or even thousands – even though this place isn't big enough to support _that_ large of a rodent population."

"But where _are_ they?  If it has an army of friends hiding in here, I'd think they would have shown themselves."  Despite her belligerent tone, Misato was getting the impression that Ritsuko was leading her on with their reasoning.

"Where indeed…" Ritsuko mused, tapping her fingers on her chin, oblivious to the red streaks they were leaving.  After a few seconds she pointed at the rat's body again.  "Look more closely."

Fighting down her revulsion, Misato did so.  It took a moment for her to realize what Ritsuko was trying to point out, but when she did it became obvious at once.  Crossing through the blood-soaked fur were lacerations and avulsions, places where the skin and flesh had been torn completely away from the rat's body.  Some of them looked like…

"Teeth marks?" she guessed.

Ritsuko nodded.  "From the looks of it.  I'd say this one somehow aroused the wrath of the pack.  Its fellow rodents turned on it, then left it for dead."

Misato shook her head.  "I don't believe it.  A swarm of rats isn't going to just bite it a few times and let it go; they're going to kill it and eat it.  And even so, all this blood should still have gotten their attention."  She looked at her friend defiantly.  "What else do you see?"

The doctor sighed.  "Nothing."

"Nothing at all?  But then this entire thing doesn't…"

"…Make sense, I know," Ritsuko cut her off.  "I'm just listing off a few of the reasonable conclusions I can…"

A violent fit of coughing cut them off at once, and they both whirled to look sharply at the source of the noise.  One of the security officers was standing near the terminals beneath the observation window.  He held one hand over his mouth and seemed to be fighting to stay on his feet.

Misato brought her gun to the ready, but the man raised his other hand to indicate that he was all right.  The coughing persisted for several seconds.  He gasped for air for a second and then croaked, "Body."  He gulped, apparently afraid to open his mouth again for fear of what might come out, but at last managed to add the word "intact" to his report.  He weakly pointed to one of the technician's chairs.  It was facing away from her, but now that her attention was drawn to it she could easily see the body.  From its rigid posture it may as well have still been alive and alert.

Together Misato and Ritsuko stood and walked to the chair.  Misato stopped just behind it, allowing her friend to go first.  Ritsuko didn't even seem to notice, so preoccupied was she with the corpse lying before her.  Misato carefully observed the blond scientist's face; the only reaction she saw was a slight tightening of the skin around Ritsuko's eyes.  That in itself spoke volumes.  Their resolve was about to be tested once again.

Briefly Misato entertained the possibility of not looking at the body at all, of simply letting Ritsuko do the investigation.  She dismissed that notion with a faint flush of guilt.  Not only would she be betraying Ritsuko in a way, but she'd be betraying herself.

You want to know what happened here, don't you?  You're not going to find out if you're afraid to look for the answers.

That was true, but would she be able to handle it?

Don't lie to yourself.  All this gore intrigues you, and you know it.

Without responding to the mental accusation, Misato steeled herself, then stepped forward to look the corpse in the eye.

---

            The maintenance catwalk was about twenty feet up, only slightly higher than the tops of the generators.  It was roughly shaped like a capital letter "E", except with four horizontal bars instead of three, allowing the crew to inspect each generator from all angles.  When Aoba realized the walkway's shape, he was suddenly put in mind of a hand with outstretched fingers.  As soon as he made this connection he was struck with an overpowering sense of vertigo and was forced to close his eyes until the feeling passed.

            Examination of the first two turbines had turned up no visible flaws, which ruled out the possibility of massive mechanical failure.  The mystery of why the power had suddenly died was becoming a little more clear – or at the very least, Aoba was beginning to get a picture of what had _not_ happened.

            In his mind he kept going back over his aborted argument with his superiors.  Now that the initial rush of anger had abated, the technician felt slightly ashamed about the way he'd exploded at Misato and Ritsuko.  He'd allowed his fear of the situation to dominate his thinking, and it had almost certainly cost him in the eyes of the two women.  They might not consider him fit for duty any longer; after all, remaining calm under stress was supposed to be one of the most fundamental aspects of his training.

            But then again, what kind of training was supposed to prepare him for this?  Aoba had been trained for situations in which you could _see_ the enemy.  Dealing with an unknown force that reduced grown men to bloody puddles on the floor had never been a topic of discussion at the academy.  

Whatever it was that they faced, it had clearly made the rounds: he'd discovered several bloody patches on the catwalk, the sources of the liquid that dripped down into the already copious gore on the ground below.  If an attacker had managed to eliminate both the men on the catwalk and those on the bottom level with such ease, there were two possibilities: either it was very agile, or there was more than one.  Neither thought was reassuring.

            _Keep it together,_ he reminded himself.  _If you lose it here, you could screw up the mission.  Remember, the sooner you do your job, the sooner you can get out._  
            He took another steadying breath and walked down the last branch of the walkway.  The third generator seemed to be in good condition, at least on the side that faced into the room; only the remaining side needed to be checked.  When they'd restored power, at least they'd be able to see the enemy coming.  It wouldn't be as…

            The girl was waiting for him.

            She looked the same as before, with her baggy T-shirt, denim shorts, and ragged haircut.  From head to toe she was splattered in blood.  The look of petrified terror on her face had not changed.           Well, if she'd seen whatever had happened here, she had every right to be frightened of him.  Aoba didn't know how she'd gotten up here in the dark, but she must have done it in an effort to get away from him.  

And now she was cornered.  If Aoba wanted her to trust him, he'd have to be careful.  He slowly took a step back, putting his hands up to show that he meant no harm.

"You don't need to run away from me," he told her softly.  "Like I said, we're here to help."

            As before, the girl gave no immediate response.

            "I saw what it was you were trying to show me," Aoba went on.  "I can't blame you for being frightened.  It scared me too – I'm guessing you heard me yelling."  The girl didn't nod, but her shivering had lessened somewhat.  Encouraged, he kept going.  "Whatever happened down there, I won't let it happen to you.  We'll get you out of here and bring you someplace safe."

            Upon hearing that the girl's body tensed once more.  This didn't make sense; why wouldn't she want to be brought to safety?  Either she was more disturbed than he'd expected, or…

            _Wait_.  Everybody else was dead.  She was the only one still alive.  If a bunch of adults couldn't escape from their deaths, how could a _girl_ have gotten away?  Why was she still here?  How had she gotten so much blood on herself if she didn't seem to be injured?  What if…?

            What if _she _had killed these people?

            The notion was ridiculous, but Aoba took an unconscious step back anyway.  "How did these people die?" he asked her quietly, his voice dead serious.

            "Do you see?" the girl asked.

            This again.  As before, she was pointing – this time down into the third turbine.  Without thinking Aoba looked to see what she was talking about.  A split second later he remembered what had happened the first time and snapped his light back to where the girl had been standing.  

She had disappeared again.  But this time there was no place she could have gone.

Aoba stared, as if sheer force of will would bring her back.  As it was, there was only one possibility that made any sense, and Aoba didn't like it one bit.

_Was he losing his mind?_

Desperate to find some confirmation of his own sanity, he ran to the spot where she'd been standing and looked over the railing's edge.

There was a body wedged into the turbine.

"Damn it," Aoba muttered.  It was a strange reaction to the sight, but it reflected Aoba's ambiguous feelings.  At the moment he was unsure whether he should feel relieved that he might not be crazy – for the girl _had_ been pointing at something real – or disturbed that the situation was now becoming more complicated by the minute.

"Makoto!" he yelled.  "Yashima!  I've got a body; get over here."

The quiet splashing of their footsteps came to him; he heard them moving closer, running until they were directly beneath him.  "Where are you?" Hyuga called.

"Right above you."  A second later Hyuga's flashlight passed over him and he waved.  "Look what I found."

Hyuga maintained better control over his stomach this time; Yashima, as before, gave no overt reaction.  "So," Yashima mused, "what are we supposed to make of this?  Was he thrown?"

Aoba shook his head.  "This guy went into the mechanism feet-first. He wasn't thrown, he _jumped_."  He left unspoken the question of why the man had chosen to commit suicide.

"Maybe he was trying to jam the generator?" Yashima suggested.

"These turbines do several thousand rotations per minute," Hyuga pointed out.  "If he'd hit it when it was running full-bore, it would've torn him to pieces."

"But he's wedged into the mechanism."  Realizing that the others couldn't see very well, Aoba described the situation further.  "Just at the base of his chest, he's caught between the rotating piece and the top edge of the outer casing.  The turbine was moving when he fell into it, but it was slowing down."  Peering closer, he saw trails of blood running from the man's mouth and nose.  "The machine jammed completely when he got caught, though.  It looks like the impact crushed his mid-torso; he must have died from the damage to his lungs.  Drowned in his blood.  Not a very pleasant way to go."

"Which brings us to the question," Yashima added, "of what could drive anyone in his right mind to do something like this."

None of them answered for a full minute.  When Hyuga finally spoke up, it was to change the subject.  "Shigeru, we've checked the backup batteries.  There's enough juice to get the generators running again, if they're not damaged."

Aoba shook his head to clear out the violent images that he'd been picturing.  "Yeah, they should be good.  I don't think this third one will start with the body stuck in it, but the other two are fine."

"Those two should give us enough power for what we'll need."  Hyuga sounded relieved.  "In that case, we'd better go fire them up."

As his two companions walked off to the opposite end of the room, Aoba considered.  Maybe turning the lights on wasn't such a good idea.  He wasn't sure he _wanted_ to see what else he'd missed. 

---

            The body in the chair had no eyes.  That was the first thing Misato noticed.  Where they should have been, there instead were empty holes, like bloody stars in the corpse's face.  "The skin around the sockets has been shredded," Ritsuko indicated.  "They were torn out."

            It was the body of a woman in her mid-thirties.  She'd probably been quite beautiful in life, but now, with her eyeless stare and her mouth frozen open in a scream of agony, she was simply grotesque.

            Her shoulder-length blond hair was soaked with blood, and patches of bare skin were visible on the scalp where clumps had been torn free.  She was naked, giving an unflinching view of the tortured maze of crisscrossing crimson lacerations that covered her entire body: shoulders, breasts, back, abdomen, arms, and legs.  Here and there a piece of flesh had been avulsed away, leaving behind it a shining patch of muscle or fat.  Her throat had been viciously slashed, creating a yawning second mouth beneath her chin.  Like everything else, she was splattered head to toe in blood.

            One hand clutched a razor blade.  It, too, was bloody.

            Misato could only stare numbly at this.  Some part of her brain tried to analyze the situation, to make sense of what it saw.  She tried to reason out why one body would be left intact, but horribly scarred.  She tried to reason out why an attacker would tear out a body's eyes.  She tried to reason out why the razor blade in the corpse's hand matched the scars inflicted on its body.  Halfway towards reaching a conclusion, that part of her brain quietly disconnected itself and left Misato speechless.

            Ritsuko, meanwhile, had turned away and closed her eyes.  "None of this makes sense," she muttered.  The doctor unclipped her radio and switched it on.  "Aoba, do you read?"

            Hyuga's voice answered her.  "Aoba climbed up to check the machines, Doctor Akagi.  He's on his way down now.  Have you reached the bridge yet?"

            "Been here for a while.  It's… pretty bad."  Ritsuko paused, as if thinking of the right thing to say, and then continued.  "Tell… never mind.  How are the generators?"

            "We've got two of them running.  They're getting up to speed now, and we should have power again in a couple of minutes.  Aoba found a body jammed in the third one, so we can't use it."

            "An intact body?" Ritsuko said with interest.  She looked at Misato meaningfully, but Misato, her mind still reeling, didn't respond in kind.

            "Yeah – well, mostly.  He fell…"

            "_Jumped_," Aoba interrupted.  "He jumped from the walkway into the third generator."  After a moment's hesitation, he said, "I'm here, Doctor."

            "Aoba, we've found a body too.  It's not pretty.  You were correct in not wanting to dismiss any explanations."

            As disturbed as she was at the moment, Misato still couldn't help but feel admiration for her friend.  After the conflict between them that might have driven a wedge through the group, the doctor was taking the first step to reestablish friendly relations.

            Aoba seemed to have realized that as well, and seemed relieved.  "Well, I honestly can't figure out what's going on.  This guy who went into the generator obviously killed himself, but what about everybody else?  Why is there the one suicide, no more or less?"

            "I'm wondering the same thing," Ritsuko agreed.  "We have the same situation up here: one body, and it's looking like she might have slashed her own throat."

            "Neither one picked a very fun way to kill themselves, did they?"

            "I'm guessing they used what was at hand.  The one here has knife wounds all over her, and her eyes have been ripped out – she might have been trying to end the pain.  But that brings us back to the question of what _did_ this to her – and where all the others have gone."

            At that moment the air was filled with an electrical hum as the lights flickered on.  Misato's already-beleaguered mind, which had lain dormant throughout the conversation, suddenly roused itself with a scream of anguish as it realized the day's experiences were far from over.  

            "Fuck…" Aoba's muttered oath came through the radio just as Misato uttered the exact same assessment of the scene.

            The room had gone from pitch black to lurid red.  Blood quite literally covered everything in sight: the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the computer monitors, and the observation window.  Misato was not surprised to see that the eyeless woman's corpse was the only body in sight.

            Through a clear patch in the window, Misato could see Evangelion Unit-04 standing peacefully in the testing chamber.  Its pristine silver armor gleamed in the light in an almost obscene counterpoint to the carnage in the neighboring room.  An image of Shinji flashed into her mind for a moment, and her fist clenched involuntarily.  She found herself hating the machine in the testing cage, as though _it_ were the reason that Shinji was now in the hospital.

            Shaking herself, she brought the radio to her mouth.  "Aoba?  You there?"

            "Yeah, sir?"

            "Umm… any sign of the monster?" she asked, taking a stab at playfulness.

            Aoba laughed half-heartedly.  "No.  Just a lot more blood than I'd expected."

             "Same here.  This entire installation is a tomb.  Not one living soul in sight."  Misato sighed as she considered the scene the others likely faced in the generator room.  "Look, guys, you've done well.  With any luck we'll be ready to leave soon.  Unless there's anything else that might help us figure out what's going on, get out of there and wait in the main hallway."

            "Roger."  There was a click, followed by silence as Aoba's radio went offline.

            Meanwhile, Ritsuko had moved to one of the less bloody terminals and was furiously typing away.  Windows and files popped up too quickly for Misato to follow, until the screen resembled the bottom of a trashcan.  "Everything's been corrupted," Ritsuko groaned.  "When the power died, the storage batteries must have started to go as well."

            "Can you fix it?" Misato asked.

            "I doubt I can save all of it.  With any luck, though, we might be able to what's important.  It'll take too long to do it here, though."  Ritsuko pulled a memory dump from her shirt pocket and plugged it into the terminal, then resumed typing.  "It looks like it's just the stored data that's damaged, though.  With my clearance, I can access the surveillance network from this terminal."

            The incomprehensible mess on the screen changed to an image of an empty hallway.  Ritsuko punched a key and the image changed to a different hallway.  Again, and the screen showed a cafeteria.  She continued cycling through cameras, passing through nondescript hallways and storage spaces, the administrative buildings on the surface, the bridge in which they now sat, the hangar for the Evangelion carrier, and several views of the generator room.  The body Aoba had discovered still dangled limply from the grip of the third, inactive turbine.  Misato noted that this body's eyes were still intact.

            Apart from a view of Aoba, Hyuga, and Yashima looking about themselves warily, there was no sign of life in any of them.

            "One more thing to check," Ritsuko said.  A few more keystrokes, and the screen flashed to a schematic of the entire facility.  The word SCANNING popped up, and was replaced a few seconds later by INCONCLUSIVE.  The doctor's brow wrinkled with confusion.

            "What's wrong?" Misato asked.

            "This is a bioscan," Ritsuko explained without looking up.  "All high-security facilities are being fitted with them these days.  Sensors spaced throughout the facility search for sources of heat, motion, and bioelectric energy.  By making a composite of the three scans, it can pinpoint living creatures within its range."

            "So why is it inconclusive?"

            Ritsuko pointed at the schematic, which had gone from a black-and-white outline to being completely red.  "This means that there are faint life signs across the entire installation.  Everywhere."

            "We just saw that there's nobody there," Misato pointed out.

            "Exactly."  Ritsuko punched in a few more commands.  "I'll try refining the search, having it focus only on stronger, more concentrated signals."

            After another brief wait, the red glow faded, except for two groups of dots.

            "There we go.  We're here, and the three dots over here are the others."  Ritsuko indicated a larger dot next to the bridge.  "That's the EVA.  Speaking of which…"

            She resumed typing and the screen shifted to show the testing chamber.  A flashing arrow appeared pointing upward.  Ritsuko gave a final command and the sound of whirring machinery filled the room.

            "What are you doing?" Misato asked suspiciously.

            "We have to retrieve the EVA, remember?" Ritsuko reminded her.  "I'm putting it on automatic.  The Second Branch facilities have a fully automated loading system; conveyors will load the EVA onto an elevator and move it to the surface, where it will be fixed to the carrier in the hangar.  All we have to do is fly it back home."

            "Convenient enough," Misato remarked.  She looked at the men in the room.  They all appeared listless and ill; while Misato had mostly regained her composure, theirs seemed to be fading fast.  She felt a little sorry for them; they'd been dragged out here to see this, and to no apparent purpose.

            "I think we're finished here," she told them.  "Let's go."

            The relief on their faces would have been more appropriate on condemned men who'd just received calls from the governor.  With that order, Misato knew, she had just become their savior.  

            Ritsuko unplugged the memory dump and pocketed it.  "I've overridden the security and locked all the doors in the 'open' position.  We shouldn't need to pry any more of them open."  She walked past Misato to the door that the men were already filing through.  

            Misato took a look back over her shoulder as she followed.  Nothing moved; the room contained nothing but death.  Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was watching her as she left.

---

            Aoba strapped himself into the pilot's seat of the Evangelion carrier and prepared for takeoff.  He and Hyuga were the only ones in the group qualified to fly the massive plane, and so Major Katsuragi was going to be left to fly the VTOL home with her own limited experience.  Aoba could easily have flown the plane himself and allowed Hyuga to pilot the other craft, but the Operations Director had been adamant in her decision.  Aoba suspected that she didn't want either of them flying alone after their experiences in the Second Branch.  That suited him perfectly.

            As the plane took off, his thoughts wandered back to the girl.  She'd seemed… _familiar_, somehow.  What bothered Aoba wasn't that, however; it was the fact that he still didn't know if she was real or imagined.  Twice she'd appeared, and both times she'd pointed out things that Aoba hadn't yet known about it.  But she'd also vanished without trace both times… and in one of those cases there was no place she could conceivably have escaped to.  When he'd asked Ritsuko if there were any survivors, he'd been careful not to mention her.  He hadn't been all that surprised to learn that scans of the complex had turned up no signs of life.

            So what _had_ he seen?  Who was she?  How was she connected to this?  What had happened to the crew?  Why was there so much blood and yet only two bodies?

            How were they going to answer these questions?

            Aoba felt the forces press him into his seat as the lumbering craft picked up speed and began to lift from the runway, the massive Evangelion in tow.

            Why did he feel like something was following them?

---

Author's Notes

Greetings, y'all.  The fun begins…

There's not too much to say about this.  My biggest concern was that I was going overboard with the gore… but then I thought back to the movie and realized how terrifying it could be if used properly.  There've been a couple of deviations from the original movie plot, but _Event Horizon_ fans should recognize a few familiar elements as well.  

Quasi-prereading was performed by Shinji (the 6:00 assassin), who said the story was "CORRECT."  Hmm.  I shudder to think what I'd have to write to make him say "WRONG."

So, it's on to Chapter 3 – with more hallucinations, darkness lurking inside of people, and garbled Latin phrases.  Here's hoping this one won't take three weeks.

Until next time…


	3. Responsibility

Disclaimer: _Evangelion_ is the property of Gainax; _Event Horizon _is the property of Paramount and Impact Pictures. Although the administrators of both studios may be tearing out their hair and foaming at the mouth over this shameless abuse of their licenses, they may still derive some small comfort from the fact that I'm not making money from it.

Chapter 3: Responsibility

"You are certain that there were no survivors?"

"Yes, Commander," Misato responded. "We checked all surveillance cameras and performed a bioscan of the entire facility. There was nothing there."

If the revelation troubled Gendo Ikari, he gave no sign of it. Learning that a branch of his organization had lost its entire crew should have elicited some visible response, even if it was only irritation that the Second Branch's work had been inconvenienced. Instead, the Commander calmly sat at the desk with his gloved hands folded before his face, silhouetted in the crimson glare from his office window. Misato wished that she'd brought a camera to the facility with her and taken some pictures. _I'd like to see him react to something like that, just once,_ she thought. _I want to see him turn away in disgust, or throw up, or gasp with shock. Hell, I'd be happy if he just _blinked

"And Evangelion Unit-04? Is it salvageable?" From the tone of his voice, it was clear that the Commander was far more interested in the fate of the EVA than that of the crew.

Ritsuko stepped forward, taking a clipboard from under her arm and referring to it briefly. "Externally, there is nothing wrong with the Evangelion, nor is there any sign of a physical attack on it. In the hour since we returned we've had little time to inspect EVA-04's interior. The data we retrieved from the Second Branch's computers may shed some light on the situation; Lieutenant Ibuki is reading through it as we speak. However, considering that the incident occurred during the S2 core's activation test, I believe it would be prudent to keep the Evangelion in stasis until our investigation is complete."

"Do you have any idea what happened to the crew?" Fuyutsuki asked from his customary position to Gendo's right.

"There was very little to go on, I'm afraid. As the Major has already stated, a surveillance check of the entire facility turned up nothing."

The Subcommander nodded. "We understand that, but the look in the eyes of Major Katsuragi and Lieutenant Aoba says that there's more. What else did you see?" His question was directed at Ritsuko, but his gaze took in all three of his subordinates as he spoke. _Am I that obvious?_ Misato wondered. She'd had no chance for rest since returning from the Second Branch, of course. Small wonder, then, if the horror she still felt was beginning to show through.

She glanced over at Aoba while Ritsuko gave a detailed description of what they had seen. She could see what Fuyutsuki meant; Aoba's nervousness was written on his face for all to see. At the mention of his name the young lieutenant had jumped, staring at his superiors with an expression resembling that of a wary cat, unsure whether to flee or attack. He quickly caught himself and forced his face into a slightly more relaxed position. "Sir?" he asked.

"You may speak, Lieutenant," Fuyutsuki prodded.

Aoba swallowed, then took a breath and spoke, his words coming out in a rush. "It was just like they've already described it, sir. There was nobody in that hole, and no sign of what had killed them. Just lots of gore, and two bodies."

"You are certain?" Commander Ikari asked.

After a moment's hesitation the technician nodded. "Positive, sir. There was nothing there." He shrugged and gave a halfhearted smile of apology, which came out looking more like a grimace. "I guess... I'm just a little shocked from the whole thing."

"If you... _recall_ anything else, you will inform myself or Subcommander Fuyutsuki at once," the Commander instructed.

Aoba bowed awkwardly and stepped back. "Yes, sir."

Misato watched him out of the corner of her eye. Something about Aoba's presentation bothered her, although she couldn't quite put her finger on it. After all, what he'd said was certainly true. They all had every right to be jumping at shadows after what they'd seen. But something seemed...

The Commander plowed smoothly ahead, interrupting her train of thought. Misato filed the vague suspicions away for later as Gendo Ikari turned his attention back to Ritsuko. "Was there anything else?"

The doctor pulled something from her coat pocket and set it on the desk. It was a memory dump, identical to the one she'd used in the Second Branch. "Just one more thing, sir," she informed him. "I managed to retrieve a fragment out of one of the bridge's sound recorders. It's still partly corrupted, but as you asked to be kept aware of all developments..." Rather than finish the thought, Ritsuko handed the item to the Commander, satisfied that its contents would speak for themselves.

Misato held her breath as Ikari plugged the module into his desk terminal. Despite herself, she felt a faint thrill of excitement. This would be their first real clue as to the crew's fate. Ritsuko certainly thought it was important; maybe this would reveal something they hadn't yet considered.

She flinched visibly when the file began to play, gasping in shock as the cacophonous sound tore from the office's speaker system. The noises Misato heard defied description. Whatever had originally been recorded, the corruption had transformed it into a jumbled mix of rending metal, static, and animalistic shrieking. Just listening to it made her eyes water uncontrollably; it was like listening to a cat being put into a food processor – and a very old and rusty one at that.

Misato shut her eyes and clenched her teeth, willing the torture to stop; after several more agonizing seconds, it did.

"I'm afraid it's not much, Commander," Ritsuko apologized. "We'll let you know as soon as we uncover anything-"

She was cut off as the Commander, none the worse for wear for having heard the recording, reset the track and played it back again. Misato winced. _I'll bet this is like music to him,_ she thought in irritation. _He probably has it on eight-track in his bedroom._

This time, Ikari stopped the playback partway through, rewound a short distance, and played it again. After reaching the same point, he rewound again, and listened to it over. Again he rewound it. What he was listening for, Misato didn't know, but...

"It sounds... like a voice," Aoba interrupted, raising his voice above the din.

Misato blinked. _How can he tell? It all sounds the same to me._ Nevertheless, she listened to the noise a little more closely.

On the seventh or eighth playback, she finally heard it. The sound was faint and indistinct, to be sure, but it was definitely there – a human voice. A woman's voice.

Misato struggled to make out the words. "Is that... English?" she wondered aloud.

"It's Latin." Fuyutsuki's eyes were narrowed, and his lips were slightly curled back from the teeth, as though in distaste. The Subcommander listened intently as Ikari replayed the recording yet again.

Misato waited until the clip had finished before asking, "Well, what's she saying?"

Fuyutsuki met her gaze, his expression grave. "It's _liberate me_ – 'save me.'"

Misato listened to the voice one more time. It was difficult to make out the words; between the interfering static and the rasping quality of the voice, Misato nearly missed it. When she heard it again, though, the words were unmistakable: "_liberate... me..._"

"Is there anything else?" Misato asked. "What's she asking us to save her _from?_"

"Determining that will be Doctor Akagi's job," the Commander answered. "For your part, Major Katsuragi, I trust that you will not allow this to distract you from your duties. As troubling as these events are, you must continue to fight the Angels."

Katsuragi straightened. "I understand, sir."

"Good." Ikari leaned forward, staring at her intently. "I have received word that the Fourth Child is currently visiting the NERV infirmary. You can begin by informing him of his selection as an Evangelion pilot."

Misato's heart sank. _I'm supposed to talk to him _now? _While he's sitting right in front of Shinji? He's never going to agree after..._ She caught herself, curtailing that train of thought before her dismay became evident. "Yes, sir," she responded smartly, throwing a quick salute.

"That is all. You are dismissed, Major... and you as well, Lieutenant Aoba."

Misato turned on her heel and strode from the office without waiting for Aoba. As she reached the door, she heard the bridge recording play once more.

"_Liberate... me..._"

---

Misato paused at the door of Shinji's room. _Do you _really_ want to go in there again?_ she wondered. _He's still going to be catatonic, you'll just have to look at him again, see him like that... stretched out, lifeless, dead..._

She guillotined that thought before it could go any farther. _Don't think like that,_ she sternly reprimanded herself. _You're here on business, so pull yourself together!_ Gingerly, she reached for the doorknob, steeling herself for what she would have to do... and stopped, realizing that the door was already ajar. Faint voices reached her ears; she strained to listen, realizing that there was more than one person in the next room.

"...I'm telling you, Ikari. You should really see what it's like when you're not there. You'd be surprised." That was Kensuke Aida, one of Shinji's friends – the one with the unhealthy military obsession. Aida, usually one who overflowed with energy, was uncharacteristically subdued today.

"He's not making it up, man. By now pretty much everybody in class has guessed that something happened to you in that fight the other day. They're all talking about it. They're worried about you, Ikari." The second voice belonged to Touji Suzuhara, the jock.

"Hard to believe, huh?" Aida forced a laugh, as if trying to convince Shinji that he was joking. "But that's how they are. They're all pulling for you."

"I talked to Mari this morning," Suzuhara added gently. "She's the one who thought of the flowers. Looks like you've got quite a fan club, my man."

_As lonely as Shinji seems most of the time, he has a couple of really good friends,_ Misato thought. _And now... and now I'm going to_... Again, she cut herself off, wrinkling her nose with distaste for her next task. Finally, she took a deep breath, then pulled the door open and stepped into the room.

Suzuhara and Aida looked up as she entered, their eyes widening with recognition. "M... Ms. Katsuragi," they stammered in awkward unison before dropping into equally awkward bows. "G-good afternoon..."

"Good afternoon, Aida, Suzuhara," she returned, giving a false smile. "How are you both?"

"Uh... very well, thank you," Aida answered nervously. Suzuhara nodded nervously in agreement, his eyes straying to the corner of the room.

Misato followed his gaze to the chair in the corner. Rei was still there, sitting in the exact same position she'd been in when Misato had left. _Did she really sit there this _whole_ time?_ But the girl looked well-rested, and met Misato's eyes with a clear, unwavering gaze. "Good afternoon, Major," she said.

"Hello, Rei," Misato acknowledged, smiling a little more warmly. Thank God Shinji had _somebody_ there for him. _Not like you, taking off for your NERV missions and leaving him alone, just like..._

Once again Misato silenced her thoughts, instead turning her attention directly back to Shinji himself. He looked much as she'd left him, lying on his back, his eyes closed, breathing slowly and rhythmically. She struggled to find something to say. "He looks... about the same," she managed at last. _At least he hasn't gotten worse_, she added mentally.

"His condition has not changed during the time that I have been watching him," Rei confirmed. "Pilot Sohryu was here for half an hour last night, and she reported much the same thing."

"I see..." Misato replied, momentarily taken aback by the idea that Asuka had willingly spoken with Rei.

"Do they have any idea what's wrong with him?" Suzuhara asked.

The major shook her head. "None. Just that he went into the Angel fully conscious and came out like... like this. He's in a coma, or... something close to it."

"From what I have read of coma patients, it is often valuable to have the victim's family and friends nearby. Patients will respond to the sound of a loved one's voice, and may even brought back to consciousness by familiar stimuli."

Misato flinched slightly. _Are you... accusing me, Rei?_ She risked a glance in the girl's direction, but there was no anger or reproach in the First Child's eyes. _You are, aren't you? You think that I should be here more often, that I should be there for him when he... needs me?_

"That sounds like a good idea." Aida stood up from the chair at Shinji's bedside and stretched. "You hear that, Ikari? We'll be back again, this time tomorrow. Hang in there, alright?" With that, he headed for the door, Suzuhara following just behind him.

_Here we go..._ Misato quickly followed them out and caught the sleeve of Suzuhara's running suit. "Suzuhara... I need to speak with you for a minute."

For his part, Suzuhara recovered from his surprise reasonably well. "Uh... sure thing." He looked to Kensuke and shrugged helplessly. Kensuke merely looked between the two of them with a raised eyebrow before nodding and heading off down the hallway. When they were alone, Suzuhara leaned against a wall and folded his arms. "So, uh... what can I do for you?"

_Touji Suzuhara, it is my duty to inform you that... oh, for Christ's sake. For once, can you just leave duty _out_ of it? _

_Suzuhara, guess what? You know how Shinji almost got killed the other day? We want you to do that for us. Doesn't it sound like fun?_

_Suzuhara, if you agree to do this, I'll do whatever you..._

_Damn it... I'm in trouble._

"Suzuhara, I..." Misato found that her mouth had gone dry; she coughed once, then swallowed uncomfortably before continuing. "I have... something I need to tell you."

"Shoot."

"You..." she trailed off again. _Come on, girl... keep it together._ "I have some bad news." _Well, _that_ was sincere, at least,_ she thought, her mood darkening by the minute.

Concern instantly darkened the boy's face. "Is it about Shinji?"

"No, it's not about Shinji..." _Not directly, at least._

"Mari, then?" he pressed, his worry increasing.

"No, Suzuhara, it's not about your sister either... it's about you." Now the boy was clearly confused, so Misato got it over with and forced everything else out in a rush: "Suzuhara, you're the Fourth Child."

Suzuhara stared. "You're kidding."

Unable to meet his gaze, Misato simply shook her head. "You've been chosen to pilot an Evangelion, Suzuhara."

Suzuhara opened his mouth a couple of times, then gave up and sat down heavily on the floor. "Shit," he muttered.

"Will you pilot for us?" Misato heard herself say. The words seemed impossibly cold and impersonal.

The newly identified Fourth Child laughed bitterly. "I don't have a lot of choice, do I?"

"You can always leave," Misato informed him. _But it's not an option any human being would take._

He echoed her thoughts. "No, I can't. It's either pilot that thing or... or else let somebody else do it. Let somebody else end up like Shinji. You think I'd do that?" Suzuhara gave her a look that wavered somewhere between helplessness and accusation.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Suzuhara."

"Also... could you stop calling me Suzuhara? I get enough of that at school – 'Suzuhara, you're late! Suzuhara, stand in the hall! Suzuhara, go to the principal's office!' I don't think I can stand it at school _and_ at work."

Misato smiled halfheartedly. "Then you can just call me Misato, Touji."

Touji nodded. "All right," he answered, looking up and down the hall tiredly. "If I'm really going to do this, can NERV do something for me in return?"

"What?" Misato asked, carefully keeping her expression neutral.

"My sister..."

"...will receive the best medical treatment NERV has to offer. It's already been authorized."

"You've planned this out, huh?" Touji shook his head, chuckling ruefully. "All right. I guess I'm in. When do I start?"

"Tonight. We'd like to run a few tests as soon as possible. Is 5:00 all right?"

Touji nodded. "I'll see you at 5... Misato."

The boy started to walk away, but Misato grabbed his arm again, stopping him. When he turned back, she looked into his eyes, searching. Touji seemed... tired, but oddly satisfied as well. There was none of the apprehension Misato had seen just a minute ago. Any trace of fear had vanished upon hearing the news about... his sister.

"You really love her, don't you?"

Touji blinked, confused. "Who?"

"Your sister," Misato clarified, still watching his eyes.

He relaxed visibly. "She's the only family I have, right? And I'm the only one she has. I mean, Mom died when Mari was a baby, and Dad's so busy with his job that _I _only see him once a week, if that. She'll be all alone without me, so... yeah, you could say I do love her." He looked at his feet for a moment, then turned away and resumed walking. "If you love someone, you've got to do what you can to protect them, right?" he called back over his shoulder as he left.

Misato watched until Touji rounded the corner, slightly unnerved by the conversation. _Do what you can... even if it's piloting an EVA?_ Suddenly she remembered Shinji's first fateful night in NERV, during the attack of the Third Angel... Rei, lying on the ground, gasping in pain... Shinji, crouched at her side... red blood – Rei's blood – on Shinji's hands... and then, finally, three horrible words: "I'll do it." _Is that all it takes for NERV to get what it wants? Bribe and blackmail people into joining?_

"Major Katsuragi."

Misato started at the sound of Rei's voice, and spun to face her. The girl was standing in the doorway, her expression carefully devoid of emotion. "Wha... what is it, Rei?" Misato stammered nervously. _Jeez... I'm jumping at everything! I need to settle down..._

"Suzuhara is to pilot an EVA, then?"

Misato nodded. "That's right." It might have been her imagination, but Misato thought she saw Rei's eyes narrow slightly. Feeling a little defensive, she went on, "I was only told about it yesterday morning. If Shinji's going to be out of action, we need another pilot."

Rei looked down. "Suzuhara is to be Ikari's... replacement."

As the young pilot spoke, Misato realized how cold her words had sounded. "I didn't mean it like that," she added quickly. "Don't you think it would be better for Shinji if-"

"I do not believe that Ikari would be happy to hear that his best friend will be an Evangelion pilot."

Misato stopped in mid-sentence, stunned by the double impact of Rei's words and the fact that, for the first time in her experience with the girl, the First Child had interrupted someone. "I... I don't..."

"I will be going home now," the girl cut in again, ignoring Misato's attempt at an excuse. "I will return for duty during the Fourth Child's activation test." Before the major could respond, Rei shouldered her knapsack and quickly walked off down the hallway.

Misato stared after her, dumbfounded. Rei had been _angry_ with her. _She was angry about Shinji,_ she reasoned. _She's mad about the way NERV's going to cast him aside like a broken tool and move on. This isn't like her... she understands what the organization must do in order to accomplish its mission. It's... it's a necessary evil..._

Misato entered Shinji's room and pulled the door closed behind her with a shaking hand, unnerved at how deftly Rei had stripped away the excuses with which she'd been deceiving herself.

---

"Oh my god! Shigeru, what _happened_ to you?"

Aoba looked over his shoulder upon hearing the panicked cry. Maya Ibuki stood at the entrance to the employee locker room, a look of mingled horror and concern upon her face. _Maya,_ he thought with a touch of relief. At least some things hadn't changed; she was still as warm-hearted – and excitable – as ever. In response, he merely shook his head. "I'm fine, Maya. It's nothing."

"What do you mean, 'it's nothing?'" Maya cried, running over to him. "Look at yourself! Look at your clothes! What happened?"

Looking over his uniform, Aoba was forced to admit that her shock wasn't completely without justification. The formerly tan fabric had gone rubbery with all the congealed blood and had plastered itself to his body like an ill-fitting second skin. Wearing it, Aoba made for a very gruesome sight, and a vivid reminder of the previous day's experiences. Still, he waved off her concern. "I slipped and fell, that's all. I'm not hurt; don't worry about it."

Maya reached out to grab hold of Aoba's shirt. "But that looks like-"

"Blood, I know," Aoba finished for her, stepping back before she could touch him. "It's not mine, though."

Relief flooded into Maya's features. "Thank God..." she breathed. A second later her expression changed to one of confusion as the rest of his words sank in. "Wait a minute... it's _not _yours?"

"No." _Now that was a _great_ choice of words,_ Aoba cursed himself. He turned away and began to unbutton his uniform, silently praying that she would take the hint and leave. _Just walk away, girl. Don't ask these questions; you're not going to like the answers._

There was a moment of silence. Aoba snuck a look behind him and was disappointed to see that, rather than leaving, Maya had taken a seat on one of the benches. "I passed Makoto in the hall," she told him, looking at the floor before her. "He looked like he'd seen a ghost."

"No ghosts," he told her, struggling to work the buttons through the swollen fabric without ripping them. _No, _he_ didn't see any ghosts. I'm the only one who's seeing things around here..._

"So what _did_ you see?"

"We're not sure." _For the love of God, just leave_,_ Maya!_ "We went in, we found EVA-04 and recovered it, but the crew was gone. No sign."

"Except for the blood," Maya added helpfully.

"Yes, except for the blood," Aoba grunted. _Well, the blood and that recording. 'Liberate me... liberate me...' That'll be in my head for the next goddamn week, I know it._ After another moment's fumbling, he gave up trying to save the shirt and tore it open. The buttons flew free, striking with sharp _ping_ing noises against the lockers and floor. "Shit," he muttered as he saw that the blood had soaked through into his undershirt and skin.

"So what do you think happened to them?"

"I don't know, damn it!" he shouted. "I don't know, and I don't _want_ to know!" He peeled the uniform loose from his body, his hands moving in sharp, jerky movements as he worked without looking at her. "All that I want is to _forget_ that place! And they didn't even ask you to come along, so I'd appreciate it if you would stop asking questions about things that don't concern you!" With that, he turned around, violently throwing the sodden shirt to the floor.

Maya was on her feet again and staring at him, her eyes wide with fear and... something else. "Shigeru?" she whispered, her voice shaking as she took a step back, unsure whether to approach him or run for the door. Aoba felt some of the anger, if not the frustration, drain away at the sight.

"God damn it..." he muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Look... Maya, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have blown up at you... it's just... what we saw down there wasn't pretty. And we _don't_ know what's going on, and I'm sure I don't want to find out." He took a deep, steadying breath before continuing. "And I don't want you to get too involved in it if you can help it. Do you understand? I... I'm sorry."

Aoba held his breath during the silence that followed, unwilling to look back at her. _Be smart, Maya. Yell at me and run away. Get out of here; it's for your own good._

"I can fix that for you... if you want."

The unexpected change of topic brought Aoba up short. "What?" he asked in surprise.

"Your shirt." Maya pointed to one of the loose buttons on the floor, carefully avoiding his gaze. "I can sew those back on... if you'll let me."

"Uh... thanks, but you shouldn't bother. I'm going to burn this."

"I see." A note of reluctant amusement crept into Maya's voice, as though she hadn't realized he was serious. "I guess I'll see you at the activation test this afternoon."

"Yeah, all right." Aoba turned his attention back to his locker, drawing some small relief from the sound of her retreating footsteps. _Why can't you just stay away, Maya?_

There had always been something about the pretty technician that held Aoba's attention. She was one of those irrepressibly cheerful and optimistic people – the kind that lifted your spirits just by saying hello to you. Her bright demeanor always acted as a balance to his own darker moods, although Aoba was loath to admit it out loud. It was difficult to classify his feelings about Maya – and he'd be damned if he was going to discuss them with someone else – but there were some things that he was certain of. He did _not_ want to see her hunched over a desk, fighting back tears as she vainly tried to piece together what had transpired within the Second Branch. _That's what's going to happen to you, Maya,_ he thought as he pulled open the locker.

"Save me," the little girl said.

Aoba let out a yell and jumped backwards. His calf caught on the bench, and the next thing he knew he was on the floor, the back of his head throbbing from the impact. He struggled groggily to his feet, looking up just in time to see Maya dash back into the room.

"Shigeru, are you okay?" she asked in a panicked voice.

Aoba quickly looked about the room. Apart from himself and Maya, it was empty. "I'm... I'm fine. I tripped," he said truthfully.

Maya took a long look at him, and then nodded. "Just so you're sure you're all right..." she said, taking a glance over her shoulder as she left.

Aoba waited until the sound of her footsteps had faded, then bolted back to his locker and looked inside. His spare uniform was folded on a top shelf, and his everyday street clothes lay in a crumpled heap in the bottom. There was nothing else inside. The mirror affixed to the locker's interior reflected the opposite side of the room, where less than a minute before, Aoba thought, he had seen the little girl from the Second Branch. But there was clearly nobody there now.

"Get a grip on yourself, you idiot," he growled, slamming the locker closed and stalking off to the showers.

---

Misato sat in the chair Rei had just vacated, watching her comatose ward.

_Come to think of it,_ she thought, _I can't really remember the last time I've done this... the last time I sat back and looked at him. I've been around him, sure. But I never really focused on him, never gave him any real attention. He was always just _there.

Shinji's chest, covered by the sheet, rose and fell almost imperceptibly in a steady rhythm. _Ritsuko says there's nothing physically wrong with him, _Misato reminded herself. But instead of reassuring her, the faint sound of his breathing only served to darken her mood further as she listened. _Why, then?_ she thought, her anger rising irrationally as she observed him. _Why won't you wake up and talk to me, if there's nothing wrong with you?_

Abruptly she remembered what Rei had said in front of Shinji's friends. _From what I have read of coma patients, it is often valuable to have the victim's family and friends nearby._ And not long after saying that, the girl had practically stormed out on Misato. _This is what you'd been trying to tell me about,_ Misato silently acknowledged.

Shinji had friends, certainly, which was more than what she would normally have expected from a boy as shy as him. Evidence of that fact rested on the bedside table: an inexpensive glass vase containing a variety of flowers. Misato wasn't much of a flower person herself, usually preferring to skip straight to the more visceral elements of her relationships, but she spied several different varieties in the vase and appreciated the care Aida and Suzuhara – _Touji_, she reminded herself - had taken in picking them out.

A card was attached to the vase. Curious, Misato pulled the chair over to Shinji's bedside and opened it. A simple handwritten message read _Dear Shinji: Get well soon. We miss you_. It was signed _Touji, Kensuke, Hikari,_ and, in a childlike scrawl, _Mari Suzuhara_. Separate from the others, in a different color of ink, Rei had signed _Ayanami._

Despite herself, Misato felt tears building in her eyes. _Where's your name,_ came the silent accusation. _Where are your flowers? Where's your love? _She nearly took the card and added her own signature, but stopped at the last minute. It wouldn't be right, she knew. They hadn't asked her to add her signature. Her name didn't belong on the card beneath theirs. She didn't deserve to write it there.

_I'm supposed to be Shinji's family, not his friend,_ Misato thought, as if the two labels were mutually exclusive. _The kid doesn't really have any family besides me and Asuka... his dad certainly doesn't count._ But what _was_ family? Had she ever treated Shinji like someone who was close to her, or had she just assumed that by living in the same house a bond would form between the two of them? During Shinji's first uncertain weeks in Tokyo-3, had she bothered to help him adapt or fit in? Shinji hadn't really adjusted until he became friends with Touji and Kensuke, and Misato had had no part in that.

Throughout their months together, she had been little but Misato Katsuragi, a commanding officer to an EVA pilot who happened to share an apartment with her subordinate.

_But I was supposed to be his _family!

Something came to Misato's mind then: a memory of the aftermath of a past battle. They were all together, receiving an evaluation on their performance, when Gendo Ikari had spoken those unexpected words: _Good work, Shinji._ The boy had practically glowed with pride; the approval he had sought had finally been granted.

That was all Shinji wanted: for someone to value his existence.

Misato remember the events of a couple of days previous: the look of elation on Shinji's face upon hearing his synch ratio, the excitement in Misato's eyes reflected in his own. That night the Twelfth Angel had attacked, and Shinji, full of fire, had charged ahead, hoping to impress her – and had ended up in a coma.

Now the tears did come, and Misato let them roll down her face undisturbed. "Shinji..." she gasped, burying her face in the Third Child's chest. "Shinji, I'm sorry... This is my fault, all of it... You didn't have to do that. I don't care about your scores, Shinji, I just-"

"Oh, _sure_ you don't." Misato's head snapped up, blinking away the tears as she looked for the source of the interruption. Asuka stood just inside the room, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest. The expression on her face was one of thinly veiled contempt. "That's _all_ you care about – you practically jump for joy whenever his scores climb half a point."

"That's not true," Misato muttered, rubbing her eyes and leaning back in her chair.

"Oh, _sure_ it is," Asuka growled. "Why don't you just admit it, huh? If he snaps out of it, you'll be nice to him just long enough to see if his synch ratio's any good. You won't even chew him out for being an asshole and breaking formation. The moment an Angel shows up, he'll be your little _favorite_ again!"

Misato didn't even open her mouth to protest. Asuka was right. It was the first order she'd received from the Commander: _Destroying the Angels is your top priority. All other concerns are secondary._

"Even if the little coward wanted to quit, you'd just force him back into the pilot seat. Oh, no," Asuka continued with a note of sarcasm, "it's not like we have any _other_ capable pilots, so if the Invincible Shinji is lost we're all going to be doomed! I thought having Wondergirl strutting around like the Commander's little toy _doll_ was bad enough without people so obviously making _him_ the goddamn favorite!"

"I just didn't want him to get hurt like this," Misato protested. "I don't want any of you hurt if I can-"

"_Liar!_" Asuka unexpectedly shrieked, suddenly becoming hysterical. "That's _never_ what matters! All that _ever _matters is _him_. _His_ performance! _His_ scores! _His_ victories! It's _my_ fault if he can't stay in synchronization! Nobody cares that _I_ dive into a volcano and kill an Angel, but _he_ jumps in without clearance and suddenly he's the hero of the day! Why is _he_ the only one the Commander says anything about? Why are _his_ high scores the only ones that matter?"

At this Misato's anger, long abused but kept in check for days, broke free. "Is _that_ what this is all about?" she hissed, rising to her feet. "Is that it? You're pissed off because his _scores_ are higher than yours?" A knowing smile crossed her face. "That _is_ it, isn't it? You're just mad at him for beating you?"

"This isn't about me!" yelled the Second Child.

Normally Misato would have realized what she was doing, but at the moment she was too relieved to have something to lash out at to notice. "You're angry at Shinji! Ever since you came here you've done nothing but put him down and tell him how much better you are. You keep telling him he's worthless. Then he does something right and you get mad because he's showing you up!" Misato laughed darkly as she saw Asuka tremble with rage, deriving vicious satisfaction from having turned the argument around. "Nobody here is willing to coddle you like the spoiled little brat that you are, and because you don't like that, you take it out on him. You know what? I bet he's staying like this so that he doesn't have to put up with _you!_" Her point made, Misato crossed her arms and waited for a reply.

If anything, the redhead shook even more intensely now. She opened her mouth to speak, but the sound that came out was weak and indistinct. "Y..." She took a deep breath and tried again. "Y-you..." Asuka's voice broke; as it did, something snapped and her face contorted. "_I hate you, you fucking bitch!"_ she screamed, before turning and running from the room.

The temperature in the room seemed to fall with Asuka's departure, and Misato suppressed a shiver, the heat of her anger having died as suddenly as it had flared. She risked a glance at Shinji, but he remained asleep, seemingly unaware of the clash that had just taken place above his bed.

---

"Gendo...?"

Gendo Ikari was wide-awake the instant the word reached his ears. It was a skill he'd honed well over the years, and a necessary one.

Still, upon hearing the voice he dismissed it almost immediately, closing his eyes again. It had merely been a dream, albeit one that had evoked a response powerful enough to wake him. The Fourth Child would be undergoing his first activation test in a few hours, and NERV's commander needed to be rested in the event of any unexpected problems. Sighing, Gendo cleared his mind and prepared for sleep.

"Gendo...?"

His eyes shot open again. This one had definitely _not_ been a dream. But what could it be?

"Husband... Where are you...?"

It was impossible. Somewhere in the back of his mind Gendo knew it was true, and yet now he rose from his futon and walked cautiously to the door leading into his office. _But that voice... so much like..._

There was the faint sound of a baby crying, bringing a furrow of confusion to Gendo's brow. A baby? But what was a baby doing in his office? For that matter...

He carefully eased the door open and peered through. The crimson glare of the Geofront's lighting flooded the room, forcing him to squint. Nevertheless, he could clearly see the figure seated at his desk, the chair rotated to face away from him.

...He was still dreaming. That was the only possibility.

Feeling a little self-conscious, he pinched himself hard enough to make his fingertips go white from the pressure. If anything, the pain only brought the scene into sharper focus.

So. Not dreaming. It had to be some sort of trick, then. Fuyutsuki and Dr. Akagi were above childish jokes, least of all ones of this nature. Could it be a SEELE plot, then? A messenger or assassin?

But it was so good to hear her voice again...

"Yui..." he found himself saying, quietly crossing the room towards her.

She straightened at the sound of his voice. "Hush, baby, Daddy's coming..." she whispered to the bundle she held in her arms, gently rocking it as she did so.

Gendo came to a stop at her side. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at her...

...As he looked at _her_. It _was_ her.

"Yui..." he whispered again, emotion making his voice hoarse.

She smiled then. She was exactly as he remembered her – the soft brown hair, the perfect skin, the beautiful features... the smile that lit up the room. Yui's eyes were closed, but he remembered them as well – wide and full of compassion, so unlike his own. They were what had drawn him to her.

"Hello, Gendo," she answered, continuing to smile contentedly as she rocked the baby that she held. "I missed you."

"But Yui..." Gendo began, still struggling to grasp the enormity of the situation. "What are you doing here? How did you come _back?_"

Still smiling, Yui simply shook her head. "Back? No, my love... you don't understand." As Gendo stood there in confusion, trying to discern the meaning behind his wife's statement, she turned her head and looked right at him, although her eyes remained closed. "I've been waiting for you." One arm slowly raised, her slender fingers reaching towards him. He resisted the urge to step back, but they stopped just short of brushing against his face. "We've _both_ been waiting for you."

"Both?" Gendo asked. "Yui, what..."

She held out the bundle of cloth for him to see.

Crimson fluid soaked the wrappings that Yui held, staining the front of her nightshirt and collecting in glistening pools in the tattered remains of what looked to be a miniature white plugsuit. The body the suit clothed was mangled almost beyond recognition, but as Gendo watched the tiny figure stirred in Yui's arms, still alive against all odds. One red eye opened. It focused on Gendo, and then the creature let out a cry in what was unmistakably a girl's voice. "Daddy!"

For the first time in his life, Gendo began to scream. The sound echoed in the room, reflecting off the walls and coming back to him, magnifying in his ears until it seemed it was the only sound in existence, even as Yui raised the _thing_ still closer to his face and it eagerly reached for him with one broken-fingered hand, all the while happily calling "_Daddy! Daddy!_" and nearly drowning out the sounds emerging from Gendo's own mouth; he became faintly aware of an electrical buzzing somewhere in his mind, growing louder and louder until it threatened to pull his attention from what he was seeing, and even though he wanted nothing more than to run away his feet seemed stuck to the floor and...

Gendo regained control of his senses with a violent start, bringing his hand down savagely on the desk console. The buzzing choked off at once. He tensed himself to reach for his weapon, to call for help, to do whatever necessary to get rid of that...

...and then he stopped. His perspective had changed. Gendo looked down at himself and realized that he was now sitting _in_ the chair Yui had just occupied. In a sudden rush of fear he whirled to confront her... but she was gone. He took a furtive survey of the room, checking each of its corners and even looking under his desk. There was no sign of his wife... nor any indication that she had ever been there.

Had he dreamed the entire exchange? The red display of his desk clock glared harshly in his eyes; he rubbed them and looked at it again. It was 4:40. That explained the source of the buzzing that must have awakened him. His alarm had just gone off; in twenty minutes the Fourth Child's activation test would begin.

Shaking his head in disgust, Gendo pushed in his chair and headed for the door. _Falling asleep at my desk... and having nightmares as well. This is not acceptable._ He hadn't allowed a dream to trouble him for years, and he would be damned if they were going to start getting to him now. Resolving to cancel his appointment with Doctor Akagi that night in order to catch up on sleep, he pushed the strange experience from his mind.

---

Touji Suzuhara fidgeted uncomfortably in his plugsuit, silently cursing the latex outfit's designer. _Sure, it lets me "communicate with my EVA,"_ he thought, _and the chicks look great in 'em... but why the hell does this thing have to ride so damn far up my crotch? Ikari, you never warned us about anything like _this_ when we asked you about your work, dammit!_

Thinking of Shinji sobered him at once. Nobody at school knew better than he that Shinji had had far more to overcome than a tight suit. His duty had involved hardships that none of his classmates could have understood. Only Kensuke and Touji himself had touched on the truth of their friend's experiences... and their time in Unit-01 had been blessedly brief.

_And now I get to pick up where you left off, _Touji thought cynically. _Geez, Ikari... it ain't easy being your friend. The things we do for humanity, eh?_ His sister's face flashed briefly through his mind. _At least something good's gonna come outta this. Mari, you'd better appreciate what your bro is doin' for you,_ he added, only half-joking.

His induction into NERV's ranks had been impersonal, with everyone taking something of a strained attitude towards him. None of the personnel he had spoken to had been willing to say anything regarding his new position – he'd been coldly waved through from one examination to another. After so many tests, samples, and checkups, Touji was beginning to feel less like a human than a lab animal. At the very least he'd come out of it with a clean bill of health.

Things had not improved upon his arrival at the testing cage. The people here – a couple of whom he recognized – wouldn't meet his gaze, and more than once Touji caught someone hastily looking away when he turned. He supposed that everyone was thinking of his predecessor's fate and trying to avoid reminding him of it. They were doing a poor job of it.

Misato had met him at the door and given him a short introduction to the members of the bridge crew and high-ranking NERV officials. The moment he met them, Touji was reminded of nothing so much as a very dysfunctional family. Two of the technicians – Ibuki and Aoba, a pretty brunette and a long-haired man – seemed to be taking great pains not to make eye contact, but still kept darting nervous looks at each other when each thought the other wasn't looking. The third technician, Hyuga, looked at them both with evident worry and kept trying to force the two to engage in conversation, with limited success. The blonde doctor, Akagi, seemed to be distracted by something; occasionally she took a brief, searching glance at one of the two men positioned on the command dais. For their part, the Commander and Subcommander of NERV were composed, professional, and completely unapproachable.

Although Ayanami was nowhere to be found, Touji had seen Asuka; as the redhead put it, she was on duty "to take care of things when you screw up." She seemed to be in an even more volatile mood than usual, and had apparently had some sort of falling-out with Misato. She spent much of her time glaring at the Major and answered orders and questions with terse single-word responses. Misato herself seemed slightly embarrassed by Asuka's behavior, but was clearly trying to hide it.

_Welcome to NERV,_ Touji thought dismally as the entry plug was lowered into position. _Are they all like this just because of you, Ikari? Were you _that_ important to them?_ Somehow he doubted it was that simple. _Well, for Misato and the devil, maybe. But there's more going on here..._ There was a lurch as the plug was inserted into EVA-01's back; Touji's fingers tightened experimentally on the control grips. _Sorry to steal your machine, pal... honestly, it kinda seems like they're trying to _forget_ about you, replacing you so soon like this..._

"Touji, can you hear me?"

"Y... yeah," he answered. "Yeah, I can hear you, Misato."

"Good. Now, this part will probably take some getting used to, so..."

There was the sound of liquid flowing into the cylinder. They'd warned him about the LCL, and in any case he remembered it from his time in Unit-01's entry plug. Although he'd been dreading this, Touji managed to keep his fear in check as the liquid rose above his head.

"Just breathe it in normally, Touji," Misato urged.

Touji realized he was reflexively holding his breath and forced himself to exhale. The LCL rushed into his lungs; rebelling against the intrusion, he instinctively began to cough, choking on it. He couldn't force himself to hold a lungful of the liquid; trying to do so only made the spasms more violent. Thoughts of _I'm drowning!_ kept overriding his consciousness. After several agonizing seconds his body realized that this was not the case and the fit of coughing slowly died away. Still hiccupping weakly, Touji gave a thumbs-up and nodded that he was ready.

This time it was Doctor Akagi who spoke. "All right, Touji. Right now we just want you to relax. You're doing fine so far."

Touji nodded again, struggling to calm himself as the countdown began. He heard one of the technicians announce that his synchrograph was rising, followed by more techno-jargon and numbers that he didn't understand. _All they told me was "sit in the seat and be calm," right? I don't need to worry about this_. He tried to write off the rest of his apprehension as simple nervousness, leaning back in his seat and listening vaguely to the voices. _What's supposed to happen?_ _I don't feel any..._

"Doctor? The rise in the synchrograph is slowing."

"What?" The concern in Akagi's voice made Touji sit up quickly. "How are the pilot life signs?"

"All reading clear... pulse is a little elevated, but no more than normal."

"Is the graph still rising?"

"Barely. It's still at –0.9... no, it's stopped."

A ripple ran across Touji's vision. He blinked, then rubbed his eyes. The process was more difficult than it should have been; his arms felt like lead weights. _They said this might happen,_ he noted as his sight grew still more unfocused, _but they didn't say it'd be _this _bad._

His arms refused to go any higher; he watched in fascination as they sank slowly back to his lap. Pressure began to close in upon his head. Touji felt himself being forced inward as his vision faded completely; his body seemed to be growing farther away, disappearing into a black void. He watched it go without reacting, and in another instant Touji Suzuhara was alone in space. The pressure refused to abate, and Touji shrank in on himself still further as it increased, leaving him alone...

..._and suddenly he wasn't alone anymore. Something else was there: a white shaft of light that sliced across his consciousness and then vanished. A deafening symphony that flayed the skin from his bones with its power and faded in the course of a second. A cold steel knife the size of a skyscraper that tore into his body and was withdrawn, taking the pain with it._

_Touji twitched. These things couldn't be real..._

_The other occupant of the ever-shrinking space sobbed quietly to itself. It had a woman's voice._

You're crying?_ Touji asked. _Why?

_The crying abruptly ceased. The other presence moved closer, warily closing in, keeping a space between itself and him. Touji extended and touched something... something that shuddered at the contact. Both occupants recoiled at once. _

_In an instant, the pressure on Touji's mind was released. He found himself ballooning outward, expanding again at incredible speed. The physical sensations, the sights and sounds of his body, returned. An instant later they vanished again, and now he was rushing away from them in the other direction. As he traveled faster and farther, leaving the muffled cries of a person he knew – someone named "Touji Suzuhara" – far behind, he saw things that flashed past him too quickly to be followed, things that left vague impressions of joy, lust, excitement, fear, touching directly to his deepest instincts... Next to the person named "Touji Suzuhara," someone was laughing._

Ikari, is this what you saw?_ Someone whispered the question, but that person's mind was too far away from its source to be recognized..._

..._He collapsed inward so quickly that nausea threatened to overtake him. The strange _things_ vanished, and once more he was alone. _

_Wait: not alone. Someone else was... still here. The laughter had ceased as well; Touji had the impression of breath being held in anticipation._

_What had just happened? He struggled to remember, and words ordered themselves in his mind._

Ikari, is this what you saw?_ Touji asked again._

_The other presence moved closer, brushing up against him. The weeping began again. Gingerly, one reached out for the other._

_This time there was no resistance._

---

"Ikari? Ikari!"

Rei stared wide-eyed at the body of the Third Child, which had just begun to shiver violently on the bed.

Her request to stay by Shinji's side during the activation test had been granted, and Asuka had made no vocal complaints beyond grumbling over being asked to pilot in her place. Fuyutsuki had been surprised by Rei's forwardness in asking for a change in the duty roster. She had detected a faint frown on his face as she'd left his office, but if the old man had had any questions about the situation he had kept them to himself.

Rei had also brought a portable radio with her to the infirmary. The other one was in the testing room; Dr. Akagi had merely raised an eyebrow before taking it from her and agreeing to leave it running during the test. The doctor seemed to have kept her word. Until now the activation had encountered no problems, with Touji adjusting reasonably well to his new duties. But then Lieutenant Ibuki had announced that the synchrograph had stopped rising... and then this had happened.

"Ikari...?" she asked again, gently laying a hand on his arm. The shaking continued; if anything it became even more pronounced. Rei glanced at his face. Shinji's teeth were clenched, turning his expression into a pained grimace.

"What the..." came the surprised cry from the radio. "Doctor, the pilot's brainwaves just flatlined!"

"What?"

"It's just gone, Doctor! The waves just... just faded, like that! But his pulse is still normal!"

"Abort the test." Major Katsuragi's voice clearly conveyed the tension she felt, but her words were strong and clear.

"No!" the doctor snapped. "If we try to remove him, he could die!"

Shinji began to twitch, jumping slightly as if shocked every few seconds. Rei looked to the door uncertainly, torn between the need to call for a doctor and her fear to leave Shinji unattended, even for a few moments.

Misato's voice was cold. "It's killing him now. Abort the test."

"Doctor...!" Maya's shocked whisper was barely audible through the radio.

There was a pause, followed by an equally shocked "My god... what is it doing?"

Shinji, who was by now seizing quite violently, took a choking breath and began to scream. It was a long, undulating, horrifying sound, and Rei was struck with the urge to cover her ears against it. Instead, she found herself clutching Shinji by the shoulders, struggling to look into his eyes, which had opened but refused to focus on anything. She could hear the nurse running down the hall, but took no notice of anything except Shinji's stricken face and his voice, which blended with the wail of Unit-01 from the radio...

Rei didn't know how long the experience lasted, only that eventually it – thankfully – came to an end. In unison, the two screaming voices died away. Shinji fell back onto the bed. A nurse gently pried Rei's shaking hands from Shinji's gown and led her back to the chair. She collapsed into it at once, finding that she had no strength left.

The radio registered only blissful silence, broken at last when Maya uneasily cleared her throat and said "Borderline cleared. Pilot life signs are stable – pulse and brainwave are normal. Synchronization ratio is holding at..." here she gasped audibly, "...seventy-three percent."

The infirmary personnel had crowded around the bed; Rei stared at them numbly as she listened. Something unusual had happened regarding Touji's retrieval; Misato's voice went from concern to agitation to confusion and back again, and through it all the doctors kept talking. She was unable to focus on any of it, until one voice brought her back to awareness.

"A... Aya... Ayanami...?"

Rei stood slowly, not willing to believe it at first... but it was true. Shinji's eyes were open, and he was looking fearfully at the white-suited figures around him. Feeling a rush of some emotion she couldn't yet describe, she practically rushed to his bedside.

"I am here, Ikari."

One trembling hand reached up. Grasping the front of Rei's school uniform with surprising strength, he pulled her towards him until their faces were only inches apart. She saw he was crying. In a voice tense with desperation and fear, he asked, "D... Did you see?"

"See what?" Rei asked, planting her hands on the bed to steady herself.

Shinji acted as if he hadn't hear her. "Do you see?" he asked again. "Can you s...see it?"

"Ikari, I do not understand-"

"You d... didn't..." Shinji whispered, sinking back to the bed. "Thank... G...God..." Despite his apparent relief, the tears continued to roll down his cheeks.

Rei straightened. "Ikari, I will call the Major. She will want to see you. Pilot Sohryu, as well." She stopped herself before mentioning Touji.

"D... don't go..."

"Ikari, I-"

"P...p...please..." he begged. "Don't l...leave me alone..." Shinji's voice broke, and he took a gulp of air before going on. "I d...don't w...want to go b... to go back th...there..." He broke down into terrified sobs, unable to speak any longer.

Rei looked to one of the nurses, who nodded once and quickly left. Carefully, she sat down on the edge of the bed and gently laid a hand on his arm. "I will stay with you."

Shinji's immediate response was to roll towards her, wrapping both arms around her body. Rei caught a faint, grateful "Thank you..." before Shinji buried his face in her lap, still sobbing. Unsure of what to do, she first laid her hands on the bed, but soon found herself softly stroking the hair of the terrified boy, whispering over and over that he was safe now, that he would be all right.

_Ikari... what did you see?_

---

Author's Notes

Hah... Yeah, it's been a little while. Real life is cruel, but writer's block is crueler still. In any case, assuming the readers haven't given up and headed to greener pastures, here it is: Gateway, chapter 3. Sorry about the wait, but that's that.

I have a request for reviewers: Please refrain from posting _Event Horizon_ spoilers in your reviews! Not everybody who reads this has seen the movie, and I'd hate for any of its nastier surprises to be given away before their time. Thanks for the consideration – and thanks for reviewing, as well.

And now, a technical point: has anybody ever bothered to point out that it's impossible to speak when your lungs are full of liquid? No, really! You see, the vibrations generated by the vocal cords aren't powerful enough to get through the denser medium, and... well, anyway, just watch _The Abyss_ if you don't believe me. Now I'll have that technical error hanging over my head for the Angel battles to come. Great...

I'd tell you when Chapter 4 will be out... but I don't much like making promises I probably won't keep.

Until next time...


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